Master of Seals
by kagehisa
Summary: Ever wonder if the battle between the Three Sennins turned out differently with the same result? Naruto learns that shinobi are killers, and that it's part of their way of life. He just wished he didn't have to embrace that truth so soon.
1. Ch 01: Rasengan, Mastered

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be typing this fanfic here, now would I?**

**Ch.01: **

_Pride. _

_It is the one word that can significantly describe my greatest strength, yet my most exploited weakness. When I faced an enemy, either from another land or village, or from within my own home, my pride has followed me like a shadow. Ever since I was just a boy I refused to allow anyone getting the better of me and I struggled to surpass their expectations. But more than that, my pride refused to allow me to let anyone that judged me be proven right._

_The people of my village, great respected warriors and lowly citizens alike have mocked me for my numerous mistakes, as if I was lucky to have even been born and should just give up and spare them the trouble of tolerating my presence. They all assumed I was a nobody, a fool, a hopeless clown without any skills and would never succeed at anything. And I proved them wrong time and time again, and they scorn me because of my achievements. _

_The reason for this is not only out of spite, but also out of fear._

_However, it is also because of my pride that I had unintentionally risked the lives of those few people that are my friends and close comrades. My pride has thus, in effect, been my weakness for my enemies to get the better of me, the upper-hand I fail to see coming._

_The source of my pride stems from my desire to erase the shadow that plagues my existence; has overshadowed all chance of allowing me to live a normal life._

_To any and all who read this, I will tell you this now as my way to show you what it is I wish to escape._

_I am the vessel for the Kyuubi no Kitsune, which was sealed into my belly at birth by the Yondaime himself -at the cost of his own life- to save the village known as Konohagakure no Sato no Hou Kuni from the demon fox when it attacked from the shadows, leaving my village devastated on the same night of my birth. And it is because of its presence that the people of my village believe me nothing more than the demon itself sealed away inside me, instead of acknowledging me as the savior of their home, as the Yondaime had intended._

_But inspite of all the trials I've faced, the struggles I've endured, I will endure the hardships to come still. I will succeed where others believe I will fail. And I will not resign myself to fate as its plaything. My destiny is my own, and I will prove to the world over and to all who doubted my resolve that I would never give up._

_I am the vessel for the Kyuubi no Kitsune._

_I am the clown of my village who exceeded all the expectations of my piers._

_I am a proud shinobi of Konoha village. And this is my story._

From the memoires of Naruto Uzumaki

**Rasengan, mastered**

When the dust cleared from the group's arrival, Naruto had only expected this Orochimaru to have some random henchman at his side to help him fight Tsunade, considering Jiraiya had mentioned both were of the Three Legendary Sennin. But the sight that met him was anything but what he expected.

Kabuto stood in front of them, still as tall as Kakashi with the silver-grey hair tied in a horse tail with eye-glasses resting comfortably on his nose. As first Naruto wondered why Kabuto was here and he and Tsunade were fighting, but he did a double-take when he took a clearer look at his head-band. The shield engraving was a music note; the insignia of the Otonin (Sound ninja).

Standing to Naruto's left was Jiraiya; a towering-tall old man with wild, spiky-grey hair and a horned head-band with the kanji of 'Oil' on it, red _hoari_ over-coat, green _gi _and white trousers with wooden clog-sandals. To the left of Jiraiya was Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune; a pretty, slim woman with short black hair and dark robes with long sleeves.

Just hours earlier Jiraiya had hobbled to their apartment to warn them of Tsunade poisoning him, leading him to believe she wanted them to keep out of her affairs as she dealt with Orochimaru's proposal to bring back her loved ones in exchange for restoring his arms to full use.

The night before, Naruto had collapsed due to chakra exhaustion from his training to perfect the Rasengan technique that Jiraiya was teaching him and Shizune had carried him into their hotel room to rest. Jiraiya's mission to bring back the Legendary Medic Nin as Konoha's Godaime just became a fight neither sides were willing to back down.

Naruto looked past Kabuto to the tall, pale man with black hair, yellow slitted eyes and serpentine complexion. The hands that poked from his black sleeves were bandaged in gauze. He wore a tan-colored robe tied with a purple rope at his waist.

He narrowed his eyes in anger and fury at the man. _'So that's the bastard that killed Sarutobi-jiji!' _Naruto thought venomously, cracking his knuckles from making a fist.

Kabuto smiled disarmingly, a false smile that belied his deadliness, while Jiraiya and Orochimaru exchanged very brief greetings. "It's been a while, Orochimaru. Still looking as pale, morbid, and sick as ever. Your slouching a little. Trouble with your arms?"

The Snake Sennin sneered only as a snake could, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. "Still the dumb fool I remember. It's been too long, and obviously not long enough. I take it you and that blond Kyuubi-brat are the sacrifices Tsunade-hime had prepared?"

After hearing the Snake Sennin's statement about him being the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, despite having already learned that Orochimaru knew of it during the second stage of the Chuunin Exams, the blond Genin couldn't help but wonder why it was such common knowledge.

Before Naruto could question what the Snake Sennin meant by that last statement of "sacrifices", the aforementioned Slug Sennin shouted "Get out of the way!" and shoved past Jiraiya and made a mad dash to attack Kabuto with her fist cocked back to deliver an earth-shattering punch.

But just as Tsunade came within arm's reach of the Oto-spy, Kabuto slashed his right wrist with his left hand's kunai, splattering blood all over Tsunade and effectively stopping the voluptuous Medic-nin in her tracks. Tremors wracked her body as she brought her bloodied hands up, her eyes wide with fear. _'Blood...So much blood!' _

Her thoughts were cut short when Kabuto punched the woman -hard- in the face and sent her soaring backwards into Shizune's waiting arms to catch her mentor.

Just when Naruto was about to follow Tsunade's lead and rush the smug-grinned teen, a hand on his shoulder stopped him: Jiraiya's. "Don't." Said the Gama Sennin, "Kabuto's at least as strong as Kakashi, and much more experienced than you. You don't stand a chance against him, at least not now. Leave him to Shizune and guard Tsunade. Her fear of blood leaves her vulnerable."

Kabuto, having heard the exchange between Jiraiya and the blond Genin, sneered and adjusted his glasses out of habit. "Jiraiya-sama is correct, Naruto-kun. You don't have the strength, skill, experience, or even intelligence to fight someone of my caliber. You're not Sasuke, after all, so just stand aside and let _real _shinobi fight, seeing as how you're not even cut out to pretend being one yourself."

When the grey-haired Oto-spy caught Naruto's baleful glare, he sighed tiredly, unimpressed with the blonde's mean look. "Put on the tough look all you want, you're just an out-of-place little Genin. Sure, I expected something from that demon sealed inside you...but in contrast with the famed Three Sennin, whom I've met face-to-face, you're a total disappointment. Right now, you're nothing but a tiny bug among giants. And if you get in my way..." Kabuto paused as his voice lowered dangerously, "...I'll kill you."

Jiraiya squeezed Naruto's shoulder more tightly when he felt the blond tense for an attack. "Don't," Jiraiya hissed, "He's provoking you to attack. If you fall for it and just rush at him like a crazed bull, you'll only-"

_'To Hell with both of 'em!'_

Naruto heard enough, and threw caution to the wind. Achieved through countless hours of practice, Naruto easily substituted himself with a _Kage Bunshin _and reappeared a dagger-toss above the group on ground. Gathering a precise amount of chakra, Naruto crossed his forefingers and conjured two more _Kage Bunshins _to his side in mid-air and had them transform into Fuma shurikens with foot-long blades shaped like shark fins.

He grasped one in each hand by the circular ring and threw them directly toward the Snake Sennin and Oto-spy. Both managed to see the attack coming and leapt aside as the shurikens buried into the soil where they had just been an instant before.

But just as they landed, the shurikens exploded with the sound of booming thunder that sent up a cloud of dust and smoke and a shower of rock debris. Orochimaru managed to avoid the explosion, but Kabuto was struck by the rock shrapnel caused by the force of the blast radius. Several shards of stone as large as knives were buried into his cross-shielding forearms, belly, and legs. Kabuto winced as he pulled the bloody fragments from his flesh one by one.

_'That was the Bunshin Bakuhastu. It seems little Naruto-kun does have some wit after all', _he thought to himself, realising he and his master were effectively separated. Naruto landed between them with a dull thump, his eyes on Kabuto. _'He must have improvisation skills nearly as good as Sasuke-kun. Leave it to an idiot to get lucky once in a while, especially since I never would've guessed the brat able to make his Shadow Clones explode. It's rather remarkable he improvises such measures on the fly.'_

"Oi! Ero-Sennin!" Naruto called over his shoulder, "Stop staring off into space and get after the snake-bastard! Do I have to do everything in this fight!"

Jiraiya had a severe temptation to hit the blond brat over his head, both for calling him that demeaning title and for ignoring his warnings and rushing off into the fray, but thought better to do as the Genin suggested, considering both Orochimaru and Kabuto were their targets and Shizune had to stay behind to watch Tsunade since the brat was already locked in combat with the Kabuto boy.

With a final glance toward the blond- and sliver-haired ninjas, Jiraiya bound ahead to Orochimaru to engage in close combat, leaving Shizune alone with the trembling Tsunade and the small pig, Tonton and Naruto's _Kage Bunshin_.

With nothing to distract either of them, Naruto and Kabuto began to pace in a ten-foot wide circle, keeping their eyes trained on the other, waiting for an opening to attack. Their steps fell in sync with each other as they passed the second circle when Naruto suddenly noted the rips and blood-stains on Kabuto's shirt and pants, but no wounds were seen.

_'Can he heal fast with some technique; or is it like a blood limit?' _

Still keeping pace, Kabuto poked his glasses up his nose with his finger; a habit, Naruto knew now, to keep his hands from shaking with excitement. The blond demon vessel narrowed his eyes. _'Bastard must like to spill blood. I'll give him all that and more of his own. Let's see how much you bleed, you traitorous scum.'_

"While I commend you for your earlier attack -strangely brilliant coming from an idiot such as yourself- I would highly suggest you reconsider your actions and just give up while you still can." Like a switch turned on, Kabuto's expression flashed from calm and impassive to dark and sinister. "You are leagues below my strength and skill, and the only outstanding thing about you is the Kyuubi within you, and you're still a novice in combat inspite of the demon's great power. Killing you would give me no more satisfaction than crushing an ant.

"Just do us all a favor and stand back like a good little boy on your hands and knees --where you belong!"

The condescending gloat in Kabuto's voice made Naruto's blood boil in rage, but managed to reign in on his temperament before it got the better of him. If what Jiraiya said was true about Kabuto's strength, he couldn't afford to attack him in blind rage. So he said nothing, keeping pace with the silver-haired Oto-spy across from himself.

_'So long as he's in my in line of sight, he can't sneak up on me. If I _do_ lose sight of him, he can only attack from above, behind, and my sides since I can hold the front. But how can I get behind him without him seeing me and deal a crippling blow?'_

Sparing a few quick glances around himself to take in his surroundings, the desolate, rocky plain sported numerous boulders and rock faces varying in sizes from as large as men and small mountains where little to no vegetation grew aside from a few random-placed dead trees.

Of the many boulders and scattered rocks and stones strewn about the area, dozens of which were shattered, broken, or otherwise destroyed, and several large craters dotted here and there, the surface fractured like broken glass in the sheer depressions as though struck by heavy force. _'Must've been Obaa-chan' _Naruto thought to himself before returning his sights to Kabuto.

The blond considered summoning a frog to aid him in fighting the Oto-spy; maybe even Gama Bunta, but decided against it when he realised he didn't have the chakra to summon him forth and Kabuto would attack while he was vulnerable weaving hand signs.

And even if he did summon the Kyuubi's chakra to summon a frog, Kabuto would sense the evil chakra and attack before he could use it. _'Guess I'll have to stick with _Kage Bunshins _and ningu to attack from a distance and take cover behind the rocks while my Shadow Clones provide the distraction. If he catches on to my plan too quickly, my surprise attack goes out the window.'_

Taking the initiative, Naruto commanded the _Kage Bunshin _beside Shizune and Tsunade through their mind-link to attack with kunai and shurikens at a distance to provide cover. The blond replica instantly reacted to its commands, dug into it weapon pouches and snapped the _ningu _projectiles toward the surprised Kabuto, who seemed to have forgotten about the _Kage Bunshin _Naruto substituted himself with just moments ago.

The Oto-spy dropped to the ground on his belly in time to allow the projectiles to pass harmlessly above, just as Naruto growled "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and a circle of blond clones shimmered protectively around the real body. Kabuto did a rough count of about fifteen Shadow Clones.

Kabuto jumped to his feet in time to meet the rush of Naruto's Shadow Clones. But they didn't attack. Instead, they began running in literal circles around him and in dizzying array of zigzagging dashes. Several of the _Kage Bunshins _sought to encircle Kabuto from behind by leaping past and over the silver-haired teen and cut off his retreat, attempting to surround him in a circle.

Acting more on instinct than thought, Kabuto dispatched at least four _Kage Bunshins _by way of shurikens and kunai before the rest were batted aside by the Doppleganger's weapons. The mass of orange-clothed doubles were unrelenting and attacked with lunges and kicks, keeping the Otonin constantly moving to avoid the pressing attacks while the main body stayed behind the attacking force.

Except the real Naruto wasn't in the back of his crowd of _Kage Bunshins_, but had already taken cover behind the rocks when his Shadow Clones moved into motion.

Naruto kept his back against the larger rocks while systematically jumping to the next one when one or several of his _Kage Bunshins _shielded him from Kabuto's line of sight, slowly circling behind the unsuspecting teen, keeping an eye out from the shelter of the rocks to adjust his course when Kabuto changed position.

Naruto's Shadow Clones were attacking in earnest now, rushing at the Oto-spy in groups of four at once; two high and two low. The clone to Kabuto's high right lunged with a kunai ready to slash, clearly observing his right hand too wounded to stop his assault, while the other three provided distraction and keep the Oto-spy off-balance and too preoccupied to return the attack. It suddenly occurred to Naruto that perhaps Kabuto had deliberately kept his slit wrist open for some purpose.

But on Kabuto's return assault, it was over. Easily leaping above the two low-attacking Clones as they stumbled under him, the silver-haired teen blocked the _Kage Bunshin's _kunai from his left, blinded the clone to his right by flicking the blood from his wrist into his eyes, and disarmed the clone on his left with a flick of the wrist and discarded his knife to grab the Doppleganger's fleece-collar just as he stomped his feet onto the low-attacking clones into the ground and finishing his move by throwing the disarmed Doppleganger head-first into the blood-blinded clone. All four dispersed into smoke at once.

Naruto knew it was time then to inact his strategy. He commanded one of his clones through his mind-link, the one staging as the main body in the back of the mass of _Kage Bunshins_, _'Now!'_

Again his clone obeyed, snapping a kunai out of his pouch and throwing it strait toward Kabuto with an explosive tag trailing behind it on a string tied on the loop-hilt. Kabuto saw the knife flying toward him and hurriedly back-flipped to escape the explosion to come when the kunai struck the soil.

Except no explosion came. Not even any smoke. The kunai and tag were still, inert. That's when Kabuto realised his error._ 'That kunai was just a diversion!'_

When Kabuto landed safely onto the ground near the man-sized boulders, Naruto exploded into motion and leapt from his rock-cover just as Kabuto was near his hiding spot. The Kyuubi-vessel delivered a jaw-breaking round-house kick while in mid-air and sent the unprepared Oto-spy stumbling, reeling into the three waiting _Kage Bunshins_ that had earlier encircled from behind.

The first _Kage Bunshin _flipped out a kunai and drove the knife deep into Kabuto's belly, adding with the Oto-spy's momentum and all but buried the kunai into his flesh to the hilt from the inertial weight.

Kabuto grunted and choked in pain, but the first clone suddenly used Kabuto's momentum to swing the disoriented shinobi toward the second waiting Bunshin, which jabbed a powerful right-hook into Kabuto's face; crushing his nose, throwing him, stumbling into the third and final _Kage Bunshin _which combined a jump and a sharp right-knee into Kabuto's jaw, repositioned, then back-thrust kicked him in the chest.

Just when Kabuto assumed the punishment was over, the real Naruto all but galloped toward the unbalanced and wounded Oto-spy, body bent low to reduce air-resistance, and jumped head-level with Kabuto before he snapped a front kick into Kabuto's already ruined jaw, whipping his head back and sending the battered Otonin on his back several paces away with an audible crack. Naruto landed with a skid on the rocky soil.

Seeing Kabuto lying still left Naruto feeling of triumph that made him want to shout in victory, but his instincts told him this fight wasn't over, because his enemy wasn't down-for-the-count.

His instincts had proved correct only seconds later. Slowly at first, then gradually gaining his bearings, Kabuto pushed himself off the ground and onto his feet. His face was a mess of splattered blood and dirt, misshapen grotesquely from the broken jaw, nose, and cheek bone. His shirt was blossoming darker with a spreading stain of blood from his belly where Naruto's _Kage Bunshin _had drove his kunai into. He didn't seem to be grinning anymore.

"Not too bad, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said mockingly, his voice somewhat nasal-sounding due his ruined nose, somehow or other still able to speak coherently with a broken jaw, "but you'll need to do _much_ better than that to beat me."

And with hardly a moment's hesitation, the Oto-spy gripped his nose and snapped it back into place with a sickening _crunch _that made Naruto's stomach twist as blood poured from his nostrils. Kabuto then re-hinged his jaw into place with an audible _pop _and snapped his cheek bone into place to allow his healing powers to deal with the rest, gingerly extracting the kunai from his belly and tossing the bloodied knife away. Already Naruto could see Kabuto's wounds closing and healing, leaving only the blood that saturated his clothes. His nostrils, too, stopped bleeding.

When all his wounds closed, Kabuto gave Naruto a sneer. "Do tell me Naruto-kun; if that's the extent of your skills, what else can you possibly do to me?"

Naruto could think of no answer.

* * *

With Jiraiya still staying at a distance, Orochimaru had watched the exchange between his servant and the demon-brat with slight interest, amazed that such an untalented Genin could hold his own with Kabuto, who should be many times his superior in strength, skill, and experience.

Were it not for Kabuto's _Genkai Kekkei_of regenerating and replacing damaged cells, the grey-haired teen would either be dead or mortally wounded and unconscious from all the punishment he'd received. Orochimaru had seen men die from gut wounds in a slow, painful manner and knew the brat was more than he appeared.

_'How strange such an untalented peice of trash can suddenly acheive such skill in the midst of combat.' _Orochimaru thought to himself as both he and Jiraiya paused in their combat,_ 'Kabuto should kill the brat quickly before he drives him into a corner, however unlikely it might seem.'_

Orochimaru snorted that thought away. The only reason he could see how the demon-brat wounded Kabuto was through the grey-haired teen's exhaustion with his fight earlier with Tsunade. Seeing as Jiraiya wasn't going to attack yet, the Snake Sennin called for Kabuto by whistle and his loyal servant came by leaping above the brat's seven remaining _Kage Bunshins_ and landed by his left side.

"You're still bleeding badly" Orochimaru stated flatly, referring to Kabuto's still-bleeding wrist.

Kabuto nodded but didn't reply to his master's statement and said instead, "Unbandage your left arm, please, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru did as Kabuto bade, shaking the bandages on his left arm loose and letting them unravel onto the ground in a heap, revealing his burned, ruined arms like they'd been cooked extra-crispy over open flames.

On his wrist was the summoning seal for conjuring serpents, shaped much like a snake that encircled his wrist like a band, a strange sigil that made up the band's "head". Kabuto dabbed some blood from his bleeding wrist and smeared a line across the summoning seal., making hand signs immediately after.

Jiraiya caught on to Orochimaru's game and hurriedly bit his thumb, smeared the blood on his palm and flashed through the boar, dog, bird, monkey, and ram hand-seals before slapping his hand onto the ground the same time as Kabuto, spreading a web of strange sigils like flame embers outward from their palms.

Explosions of smoke and dust erupted from both sides. Orochimaru and Kabuto stood perched on the head of one of the two giant serpent summons, nearly a hundred paces high. The snakes were as large as towers with brownish-grey scale-hides. If one were to measure them in human dimensions, a human would be no larger than a beetle to a man by comparison with the giant snakes.

As for Jiraiya, his results were less than what he expected. Even for being poisoned.

At his feet was none other than Gamakichi, a toad no bigger than a bull-frog with warty, red-orange skin with a fitted hoari half-coat. Jiraiya looked down at the toadling in utter despair. "What do you want?" the toad asked in a grouchy voice, "If you want my help, give me some treats, will ya?"

Naruto recognized the little toad and panned back to Jiraiya with a look of complete disbelief. "I don't know if whether I should just laugh or cry right now."

Shizune could only agree with a nod, still holding protectively onto Tsunade's trembling shoulders.

Above them, Orochimaru laughed mockingly at his ex-comrade's display. "There's still no cure for stupidity...Jiraiya."

Beside the Snake Sennin, Kabuto observed something amiss about the Gama Sennin and brought voice to his thoughts. "Tsunade-sama must've planned ahead to have the sacrifices ready and drugged him to suppress his powers. That must be why his chakra levels are imbalanced."

Jiraiya grimaced when he heard the exchange. They realised his weakness.

Orochimaru sneered, hardly believing a Sennin could let his guard down and let himself be poisoned. _'Some things never change. You always were a fool, and today you'll die as one!'_

"Kuchyose no Jutsu!"

Another explosion of smoke and dust erupted from the ground below, snapping the attention from all parties to the cloud of smoke. That voice was neither Tsunade, Jiraiya, or Orochimaru.

It was Naruto.

When the smoke cleared, the blond Kyuubi-vessel stood flanked by two frogs. One was no larger than a human child of ten years, slick green skin and yellow eyes with oval pupils, much like an over-sized tree frog with a white underside, brown loin-cloth sash and wielded a katana as long as himself. An ornate tattoo decorated his left leg.

The second frog was considerably larger, the size of a bull, with the same dark, slick-green skin as the first but spotted with brown blotches with a red eye-patch over his right eye, the left being the color of pale red.

The cow-sized toad wore a white _hoari _half-coat trimmed blue with blotch-designs speckling the coat, and the spot between his eyes was shaped like a shuriken. He held a slightly curved bronze shaft with numerous protrusions like a toad-hide. It took him a second glance to realise it was a sword in a matching sheath and four ceramic blue jars.

"Wow! S'been a long time since I seen the outside world again!" the smaller frog piped almost childishly, cupping his hand above his eyes and scanning around the scenery before his gazed fell on the orange-clothed shinobi to his left. "Hi! My name's Gama Fuwa'ashi. Did you summon us?"

Naruto nodded, keeping his gaze on the giant serpents. "I summoned you both because I..." Naruto thought for a moment as to how he should address his need for a summon's aid, remembering his first meeting with Gama Bunta. "I need some help fighting Orochimaru and his summons." He pointed to Kabuto also. "And to kill that silver-haired guy beside him."

At the mention of the Snake Sennin's name, Gama Fuwa'ashi lost his childish demeanor and flicked his head in the direction of the towering serpents in front of him. His expression showed no mercy and total fury. There seemed to be history between the Snake Sennin and the Toad summons. Naruto glanced to the larger frog to his left, who seemed to be smoking from a bowl-pipe.

The one-eyed toad blew out a puff of smoke and said with a deep, calm voice. "You ask for our assistance. It is given freely. We only await your orders." He paused, glaring with his one eye at the snakes swaying anxiously above them, awaiting their orders from their summoner. "I go by the name Gama Kudo. Now let's get this show on the road. I feel like having some snakes skewered over a fire."

Orochimaru waited long enough. He turned to Kabuto just as his serpent was moving into motion. "You handle Tsunade, while I take care of Jiraiya. If her apprentice or the Kyuubi-brat get in your way, kill them."

When the serpent surged toward the group below, Kabuto leapt to the next snake's head, aiming the serpent toward Tsunade and Naruto with his summons as his master veered his respective snake toward the Gama Sennin. _'Too bad' _Kabuto thought, _'I really wanted to try fighting Jiraiya-sama since I had some practice against Tsunade-sama. Oh, well. Master's orders come first.'_

The group on ground scattered as the giant snakes crashed into the ground, throwing up a shower of earth-debris hundreds of feet high in the sky with an equally large cloud of upturned smoke and dust. Naruto hopped back and forth off the larger man-sized stones still air-borne toward his frog summons not twenty yards away from his position.

A quick glance to right-front showed Shizune carrying Tsunade off to a safer distance, leaping off air-borne stones and rocks like himself. He lost sight of Ero-Sennin. A glance downward revealed Gamakichi and Tonton scurrying for safety behind some nearby rock-outcroppings. His _Kage Bunshins_ were no where in sight.

Shooting out of the cloud of dust and debris, Kabuto's snake summon lunged out with its cavernous mouth gaping wide open -large enough to swallow a tower whole- to swallow Naruto and his summons in one bite just as Kabuto jumped off the snake's head and bound after Shizune and Tsunade. When Gama Fuwa'ashi and Kudo jumped off some falling debris toward safety, Naruto realised the snake was coming for him alone.

He gave a shout of surprise as the snake's mouth closed down on him and saw only darkness.

* * *

Kabuto easily caught up to Shizune and Tsunade as soon as the shower of debris settled. The medic-nin apprentice rolled up her sleeve and snapped her poison-needle slinger strapped on her wrist and let fly five small needles the size of pins.

Kabuto dodged the tiny projectiles and dashed inside Shizune's guard before the woman could raise a defense and took Kabuto's Chakra Enjinto strait to the chest, cutting into her chest muscles. She grimaced in pain, deposited Tsunade on the ground by shoving her behind a large stone, and expelled a cloud of foul brown-green, poisonous gas from her mouth.

Kabuto recognized the gas as the Dokugiri no Jutsu. He couldn't stop his forward momentum but managed to inhale a lung-full of air in time just before he ran headlong into the mist, holding his breath. _'One wiff of this mist and I'm dead.' _Kabuto managed to halt in a skid and peered at the ground under his feet. _'I'll attack from underground. Doton: Dochuu Eigyo no Jutsu!'_

Shizune gave a sigh of relief and victory, seeing as Kabuto wasn't coming out of the poisonous mist she spewed. He must have either died and collapsed on his second step into the cloud of gas-

Shizune heard the sound of shattering rock a fraction of a second too late before hands gripped her ankles and felt a pain like her legs had been cut with a serrated knife. Her legs buckled involuntarily and she fell to her knees, gripping her thighs in pain with a strangled groan. Her ankle tendons had been severed.

Kabuto crawled out of the rocky ground, his hands still glowing green with the Chakra Enjinto still in effect. A glance to his left showed Tsunade was huddled against a nearby stone, still shivering.

Her apprentice was still on the ground clutching her legs in futile attempt to alleviate the pain his Chakra Scalpels had wrought. Tsunade was no threat at the moment, so he might as well kill Shizune, just to make sure she didn't interfere later. Besides, Orochimaru still needed his arms healed, and they could "persuade" the Medic-nin to do so later.

Before he took another step towards Shizune, however, a sword pierced through his lower back and out his belly, spilling his blood. He gasped at the unexpected flare of pain and sagged, clutching the protruding blade with one hand while looking over his shoulder at his new attacker.

Gama Fuwa'ashi grinned at him with his katana held tightly in his green hands. "Master said to kill you. I no like killing humans, but you reek of snakes. Killing you be fun, if you give me some sport. Hope you're fast!"

Kabuto snarled in fury and rage at such a pitiful creature wounding him. Gama Fuwa'ashi pulled his katana out the grey-haired Oto-spy's body and hopped back well out of reach, nearly ten yards away, falling into a defensive stance with his sword-tip pointing down, lower than the hilt.

Kabuto hardly even felt the pain from the summon's sword withdraw, his nerves immune to pain sensory as his blood-limit took full effect. All traces of clear-minded clarity vanished from his eyes, which were suddenly becoming the color of primal-red, like fresh-spilt blood.

Likewise, the veins in his arms, neck, and temple suddenly swelled grotesquely like lattice-work, his muscles expanded and hardened until he grew half-again his weight and half a foot in height. Wisps of blue and green chakra energy boiled from his pores like smoke, intermingling into a sea-bluegreen color. His voice-tremble seemed deeper too, with every inhale and exhale it sounded like a bear's deep breathing. The pierce-wound through his torso regenerated within seconds, smoking as if searing shut with a hot pick.

Despite Gama Fuwa'ashi seeing the Oto-nin's wound heal before his eyes, he resolutely stayed in his defensive posture, ready for the grey-haired teenager's next move. The air was ripe with chakra, so much so that the frog summon's skin was tingling like a current of electricity raced through his flesh.

The Oto-spy -Kabuto, as his summoning master had called him- had more than four times his own chakra capacity and was most likely much more skilled. Gama Fuwa'ashi knew his speed was unrivaled, a few humans of past being the minor exceptions, and he could easily evade the bulkier ninja and keep cutting him until he died of blood loss or he scored a mortal blow. He just hoped it was enough.

Gama Fuwa'ashi blinked involuntarily, and suddenly Kabuto was right in front of him, swinging a hard kick toward his unguarded left side. The blow hit like a sledgehammer and threw the light frog summon several yards away, skidding on the dirt and dropping his katana from his limp hands. He managed to keep himself from being dispelled back into the Summoning Plane, but fell unconscious in three seconds.

Kabuto didn't have time to revel in his minor victory over the smaller frog summon. A surge of chakra energy flared from behind him and distantly heard a deep voice like bubbling mud spout "Suiton: Teppodama!" before twin spheres of water crashed into his back, blasting the wind from his chest, splashing his clothes, and sending him forward with his back arched from the impact.

He flew several feet away from his previous standing point and skidded to a halt on unsteady legs. He swiveled around in a flourish, snarling in rage and fury at who- and whatever struck him in the back.

Gama Kudo's eye glared like a razor-sharp dagger at the Oto-spy, his sword drawn pointing toward Kabuto while his free hand was held in a flat palm like a "silence" gesture under his chin. "Don't presume you've beaten us so soon. Our master has yet to finish you off himself."

"'Finish me off'?" Kabuto repeated incredulously at the giant amphibian, his voice many times deeper from his blood-limit's activation. "Your 'master' can't even be called a decent shinobi, much less kill someone the likes of me. You should take your own advice and not presume such preposterous claims. Besides, he's already dead, swallowed by Orochimaru-sama's summoned snake. What can he do when-"

Kabuto's words were cut short when a rumbling explosion blasted rocked the air. Kabuto turned back around, ignoring the potential threat of turning his back to the frog summon and looked at the snake summon which swallowed the demon-vessel, nearly a hundred yards away.

Chunks of flesh and bone flew through the air and rained down a drizzle of serpent blood. Peices of rendered flesh as large as men thudded to the ground, splattering scarlet liquid with sounds like wet sponges smacking a hard, flat surface. The brownish-grey snake swooned and swayed its massive head into Kabuto's line of sight and saw an enormous hole dominating the span between the serpent's eyes, blood pouring like a waterfall out the hole with abandon.

The snake bore a confused expression, as if it didn't realise the opening in its head would sooner or later lead the summon into its death-thoroughs, but then gravity took hold of its weakening body and brought it crashing down to Earth with a land-shaking quake. There is stayed, still as death.

Amidst the fleshy debris of fragmented pieces of meat and bone, Naruto walked out behind a particularly large chunk of snakeflesh on wobbly legs, though a grin threatened to split his face in two, an expression usually tied to when he accomplished something to be proud of. From blond-haired head to feet, snake blood was soaked into his clothes, covering his skin, leaking into his mouth (which he quickly spat out) and obscuring his hitai-ate's leaf engraving.

Kabuto stared at the bloodied Genin for a long moment, unable to grasp how the demon-vessel had just killed one of Orochimaru's summons. His face quickly screwed up into a scowl. "What the hell did you do just now!"

Naruto just grinned some more, thinking back to the when the serpent took him into its jaws...

* * *

Darkness dominated his vision, and several tons of muscled serpent jaws pressed down on him from above and below, barely managing to hold the giant serpent's mouth from crushing him completely with his straining arms and legs. Every in- and withdrawn breath made his chest feel tight and knew without prodding that his muscles were tearing with the effort to hold death at bay.

Frantically Naruto tried to surmise a plan to escape from his precarious position, but nothing came to mind that would save him. Filling the cavernous mouth with _Kage Bunshins _to force the mouth open wouldn't do any good (as he had done with the snake in the Forest of Death in the second part of the Chuunin Exam).

He couldn't afford to squander his chakra after conjuring so many clones and summoning the frogs, which he couldn't say for certain how they were fairing at the moment. Using an exploding clone was a no-go considering he, too, would get caught in the blast and only speed-up his premature demise.

"Think, goddamnit, THINK!" Naruto muttered with a groan.

The snake's mouth smelled terrible, like a sewer of rotting meat and ammonia-like aroma similar to stale piss. He gagged with disgust when he breathed it in. Snake mucus was saturating his thick clothes and his chest was feeling tighter with every passing second. There wasn't enough oxygen in the snake's orifice to sustain him for long.

Then it came to him: The technique Jiraiya had been teaching him, his only chance to escape.

_'Problem is, my hands are a little preoccupied keeping this snake's mouth from crushing me'_Naruto thought with a visible grimace. _'I can't make the Rasengan with one hand; I need both to gather and compress the energy-'_

The answer smacked him in the face. _'I'll use_Kage Bunshin _to hold up the snake's mouth and use the Rasengan.'_ He looked up at the ridged-roof of the giant serpent's mouth and suddenly looked doubtful. "I hope this works." He said under his breath, slowly easing one hand down and brought his forefingers up in a "silence" gesture whilst the other strained to hold the roof of the snake's mouth up above his head.

Gathering energy and molding it into his designs, Naruto conjured three _Kage Bunshins _to his side; two rushing to hold the snake's mouth open, the third to assist the Kyuubi-vessel. Remembering the lessons he'd pounded into his memory, Naruto brought his chakra to his hand, made the energy spin and poured out a greater amount of energy into his palm.

As much as he would have liked to do this without the aid of his Shadow Clone, he knew he wouldn't be able to execute this technique properly without it.

Then the _Kage Bunshin _was at his side, using its hands to compress the chakra that madly spinning now like a vortex, whips of wind lashing out before gathering into Naruto's clenched hand. The _Kage Bunshin's _hands were now moving at blinding speed, molding the chakra into a sphere like it was molding clay, until at last it was done after ten seconds of painstaking concentration.

Held in Naruto's palm was a perfect sphere of spiraling blue-and-white winds twisting, spinning, and interweaving within a transparent barrier-ball, no larger than a fist. As if an entire hurricane storm was trapped within a glass sphere, it trembled with pent-up power and screamed with the sound like metal plates grinding against one another on an axle, begging to be unleashed.

He granted the sphere's wish. With a roar that shook through the snake trapping the blond Genin, Naruto blasted his technique into the roof of the snake's mouth.

"RASENGAN!"

* * *

Naruto just grinned all the more. "Take a wild guess, dimwit."

Kabuto's eyes smoldered like flaming coals. He dashed forward with his hands glowing with chakra, aiming to use his Chakra Enjinto and wound the blond wanna-be shinobi, heedless of leaving behind Shizune, who was frantically trying to heal her ankles as quickly as possible to aid Naruto.

The Kyuubi-vessel didn't need any more aid than what he had already. Gama Kudo agilely hopped between Kabuto and his summoner and chopped with sword to Kabuto's head, missed as the Oto-spy ducked the slash, then reversed the strike into a downward thrust that nearly impaled Kabuto through his back before he leaped to the side in a desperate move to avoid further injury, rolling onto his back and absorbing the fall before riding the momentum onto his feet.

Movement from the corner of his eye alerted Kabuto just in time to evade the strike from the _Kage Bunshin _that had snuck up on him from behind, ducking under the Shadow Clone's roundhouse kick, only to find another _Kage Bunshin _rushing at him from behind another large boulder and snapped a handfull of shurikens his way, several of which found the flesh of his arms and chest, but not his throat, as the Shadow Clone had intended.

Kabuto backflipped some ten yards away to gather his bearings as the last two _Kage Bunshins_ stepped out from the cover of the boulders dotting the battle ground.

_'Seems Naruto-kun's_ Kage Bunshins_ survived the snake's attack better than I assumed' _Kabuto thought to himself with a hint of annoyance, angrily yanking out the shurikens from his flesh, _'but now it's time to end this fight. I've expended too much chakra already and I'll need my strength to subdue Tsunade-sama.'_

Naruto had no time prepare himself for Kabuto's surprise attack, weak as he was with having already used his gambit technique, Rasengan. In the blink of an eye, the Otonin closed the distance between them, passing by Gama Kudo, and drove a sharp right knee into the Kyuubi-vessel's jaw, breaking several of the blonde's teeth and snapping his head back sharply, leaving the demon vessel stunned from the unexpected blow. He crumpled to the ground on his knees and fell face-first into the dirt without a sound.

Consciousness fell away from him as Gama Kudo rushed to aid his master...

* * *

While the battle below waged between summon and ninja, Orochimaru and Jiraiya fought desperately against each other as their handicaps left them fighting zealously to end their conflict quickly.

The serpent summon, which was still alive and carried the Snake Sennin to attack Jiraiya, was now no more than a helpless spectator as its summoner and the white-haired old man fought to the death atop its vast size, unable to move more than its head when Jiraiya used his Doton: Yominuma no Jutsu and conjured a giant swamp of dark, foul and viscous mud tar that left the snake bogged down like an insect trapped in a glob of sap.

At the moment, Orochimaru had his fanged jaws clamped tightly onto Jiraiya's throat, his right foot impaled by the Gama Sennin's Hari Jizo no Jutsu's many needle-sharp spines to hold the cloak of sharp hair to one side. Jiraiya realized his Jutsu wasn't powerful enough to deter his ex-comrade from attacking and was quickly losing oxygen.

"Even with us both having handicaps, there's no contest between us." Orochimaru slurred with his jaws still holding onto Jiraiya's throat tightly, "Give it up and just die!"

Jiraiya answered with a hard kick to the Snake Sennin's chest that threw him back ten steps and released his throat as the Gama Sennin gasped for air and dispelled his Hari Jizo, letting his wild hair return to normal. He rubbed his sore throat just when Orochimaru got to his feet. At least the bastard snake hadn't punctured his arteries.

Just when he thought he could get a break and regain his breath, Orochimaru rushed at him once more and Jiraiya hopped back across the giant snake's hide in a hasty retreat. The two Sennin clashed as they hopped across the giant snake summon's exposed length, both unable to deal a devastating blow to the other. This exchange of blows went on for many minutes and showed no sign of ending.

Both Sennins had been aware of a sudden discharge of chakra and heard the explosion before their sights turned to the second snake with a giant hole in its head, swaying this way and that before collapsing onto the ground, dead.

Jiraiya's praise to Naruto for actually managing to use the Rasengan so well after so short a time on practicing with it died in his throat when Kabuto attacked the unprepared Genin and left him unconscious with only a handful of _Kage Bunshins _that hadn't been dispersed and left Gama Kudo to fight the superior Oto-spy.

Within a minute of the fight between the frog summon and Kabuto, Jiraiya caught a glance of Naruto getting to his feet, if unsteadily, and hadn't yet been noticed by Kabuto who was having trouble fending off the bull-sized frog and Gama Fuwa'ashi, whom seemed to have finally regained consciousness and double-teamed the grey-haired teenager.

Just when Jiraiya thought the fight would turn to their favor, Shizune rushed up from behind to Kabuto's back and snapped her needles which Kabuto ducked and used the minor distraction to slip under her guard and drove his fist -hard- into her cheek and knocked her into oblivion.

The frog summons rushed at Kabuto's back with their swords poised to thrust and kill the Otonin but were unprepared for their prey suddenly throwing Shizune in the way, forcing the frogs to divert their blade points away just as Kabuto used Shizune as his shield cover and delivered a Chakra Enjinto chop to both their rubbery chests, swatting them aside several feet in opposite directions where they lay still and knocked out.

Weak as he was at the moment, Naruto still tried to help his summons and Shizune, but barely took three stumbling steps forward when Kabuto jumped into the air, landed in front of the disoriented Genin in a crouch and snapped a hard roundhouse kick to the blonde's shoulder, sending him crashing into the dirt with his arm stunned numb and nearly broken.

Tried as he might, he had no more strength left to even stand. All he could do was curse in the dirt and watch helplessly as Kabuto sauntered over to Tsunade's trembling form and proceeded to beat her half to death while the blond woman could only raise a feeble defense against Kabuto's taunting punches, slaps, and kicks.

_'It can't end like this', _Naruto thought savagely, straining his arms to push himself up, _'I won't let it end like this. Dammit all, I can barely move!'_

_**Let me out...**_

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks -figuratively speaking- when he heard that demonic voice, a deep basseto like distant thunder rumbling from within a cave, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once. Uzumaki recognized that voice as only the Kyuubi no Kitsune's, the nine-tailed demon fox sealed within his belly.

His temples were suddenly throbbing with pain in concert with his pounding pulse, like his head was ready to crack open from within. His strangled groan sounded like a wounded animal's.

_**Let me cut them...Let me tear them...Let me rip them apart...**_

_'No! I can't...I won't give in!' _Despite his efforts, Naruto knew it was only time before the Kyuubi took control and sent him on a blood-thirsty rampage, most likely killing everyone and everything within a ten-mile radius to sate the demon's lust for death and destruction.

_**You can't do anything right now, little insect. Give me control and I'll send these peices of trash to the bowels of Hell. Give me control and I'll kill them for you.**_

_'No! You're lying! You won't stop at Orochimaru and Kabuto; you'll kill Obaa-chan and Ero-Sennin and everyone else here to sate your malice.'_

Kyuubi laughed, a guttural, basseto rumble that Naruto felt in his chest. _**For being such an idiot, you know me well. But really, what choice do you have at the moment? Your consciousness is falling and will leave your mind open for my chakra to control your body. You can no more stop my possession than you can stop a storm with your hands.**_

_'No!'_Naruto felt his will draining. Sweat beaded down his face and into his eyes with the mental strain to hold the Kyuubi back. His efforts were in vain; it was like pushing against an ocean's surging tide, powerful and relentless, crashing into his defenses and leaving him more weakened than before.

_**Give me blood, give me flesh, give me screams, give me pain, give me death, give...me...FREEDOM!**_

Naruto's scream shattered the eerie silence in the field, his back arching painfully while on his knees as his skull pounded from the onslaught of Kyuubi's will breaking his own.

Suddenly everyone on the battle ground clutched their heads in agony as Kyuubi's voice thundered into all their minds and pushed them to their knees. Jiraiya and Orochimaru grimaced tightly while Kabuto and Tsunade, being much closer to Naruto, felt the effects much more clearly and bled from their ears, nostrils, and eyes from the pain and mental pressure. But just as quickly as it appeared, the pressure vanished.

When Kabuto looked up to face the orange-clad Genin, the hairs on his skin suddenly stood on end as a pulse of malevolent energy rippled from Naruto's slack form through the ground and the air itself. His arms and head were dangling down as if held up like a motionless marionette, but his bent legs were flexed and held him up on his feet.

As he watched translucent red and orange chakra swirl and twist around the demon-vessel's slouched form, slowly swirling upward gathering above the motionless shinobi before it formed the unmistakable shape of a fox's head.

The chakra-manifested sentry above the blond Genin suddenly lifted and pointed its snout up in the sky and bellowed an earth-shaking roar, so loud and deafening, it ripped the ground apart from beneath his feet and leveled a glare full of malevolence at Kabuto, leaving the Otonin standing on unsteady legs.

But just as the largest and most destructive fires burn away, the Kyuubi-sentry dispersed into tongues of red chakra like flaming embers and swirled into a spiral path down back into Naruto's body, coalescing onto his clothes and seeping into his body. As he watched the heart-stopping spectacle, Kabuto had a distinct desire to either kill him while he was defenseless or run as far away as possible in the other direction.

Of course, the former option was nonnegotiable, considering the waves of killer intent held him frozen and locked his muscles in place far more effectively than Orochimaru's killing intent had ever accomplished, and the latter course was equally impossible with his feet rooted to the spot. Dread suddenly filled his chest and left his heart hammering against his ribs and his mouth dry as he waited for whatever that was happening to end.

He did not have to wait long. Within the span of several heartbeats, the demonic chakra finally receded into Naruto's body, leaving his back and shoulders smoldering like steam was rising from him on a dark and cold night, the secondary effects of the Kyuubi's energy coursing through his veins which superheated his flesh.

His blond spiky hair became more wild, frazzled, and when he lifted his head to face Kabuto and Tsunade, his dark-rimmed eyes were a deep crimson with vertical slits, his whisker-scars were broader and darker, and his canines and incisors grew larger and more pointed like a predator's. Every wound previously suffered during the heat of the battle sizzled and his flesh healed like heated wax merging back together.

But his transformation wasn't over. An animalistic growl escaped his throat as shimmering, transparent red energy bubbled from his skin, enveloping his body into a cocoon of youki that shaped into the form of large fox where two spikes of chakra extended from the head to resemble ears, the energy around the hands to form finger-length claws, and a thick, tapering extension of red youki to lengthened from just below his lower back to look like a fox tail.

Naruto brought his hands up and looked at them, now bearing sharp claws in place of his fingernails enveloped within his bodily energy cocoon, as if for the first time he'd seen them. His gaze panned back and forth, inspecting himself. The air itself crackled and hissed with malevolent heat and power.

Having more experience with the workings of his seals, Jiraiya knew something was wrong. Not only was Naruto's behavior different as well as the appearance of the chakra's shape, but his chakra signature was no longer recognizable.

It wasn't like when he brought forth some energy from Kyuubi like when he summoned Gama Bunta, conjuring the energy that overlapped and combined with his normal chakra. The Kyuubi's energy now felt like it dominated his host, pushing down Naruto's human chakra deeper into his body and almost smothering it.

Jiraiya's fears were confirmed when the orange-clad Genin grinned as only a fox could.

Naruto wasn't controlling his body anymore.

Kyuubi was now in control.

* * *

The demon fox appraised the feel of his vessel's body and sensations, which the Kyuubi had been deprived of for over thirteen years: The sweet tangy scent of blood in the air, the feel of the wind's caress on his skin and the muscles in his limbs flexing and coiling, the sights of the battlefield and the colors he could see again instead of the dreary darkness of the cell he'd been imprisoned in.

Thirteen years to a demon who had lived over several millennia was a triffiling amount of time, no more than a grain of sand in an hourglass, but inside the seal he'd been caged within, unable to kill or walk free on his own feet, every second inside his pitiful vessel's body felt like a century.

Kyuubi lifted his gaze toward the silver-haired human with glasses and smirked a feral grin. He'll have some fun breaking and killing this one before moving on to killing the two fighting Sennins and finally sating his pent up carnal lusts with the two present women: The big-breasted blond and the unconscious slim woman. Thirteen years trapped inside a whelp without sex left him desperate to appease his urges.

Just before the demon fox took another step, however, a rumble shook the ground beneath his feet, drawing his attention to the bogged giant serpent trapped inside a lake-sized swamp of black tar like an insect held fast by tree sap.

The serpent's cold slitted eyes glared hungrily at him and the five others around him: Kabuto, Tsunade, Shizune, and his vessel's two frog summons. Kyuubi wasn't concerned about its presence, and aside from a grimace of distaste and disgust at the creature, he turned away from it to once again face Kabuto-

Another rumble quaked from under his feet, this one even stronger than last, jostling the demon fox and nearly tripping him. He swiveled back around to face the giant snake again and saw the serpent using its chin to drag its body from the swamp while undulating the freed portion of his body back onto land, slowly freeing itself from its brief, viscous prison, much of its long body covered in muck and tar. As the limbless reptile was dragging its slithering body out, it glared an undisputed challenge at him, demanding a fight for the sport before the awaited feast.

The Kyuubi's face twisted into an expression of savage fury. How dare that slithering length of trash challenge him! He was Kyuubi no Kitsune, feared and reveared throughout the land the span of history! He'd turned cities to dust, sunk whole continents beneath oceans, razed worlds across the deep endlessness of space itself beyond the Earth's spherical boundaries, killed billions just for the sake of sating his desire for death and destruction, and this pretentious, belly-crawling abomination dared challenge him!

The two Sennins -Jiraiya and Orochimaru, if Kyuubi wasn't mistaken from the influx of images and whisperings he skimmed through his vessel's memories- quickly leapt off the serpent's back to resume their battle elsewhere as the snake finally pulled itself from the its mucky confinement, swaying and hissing in satisfaction in its freedom.

Kyuubi glanced behind him and saw the grey-haired Otonin now on guard and half-crouched, ready to bolt into a fast run at any moment. He clearly thought the snake would make a difference against him.

Kyuubi couldn't help but smirk at the fool's shear audacity and stupidity._** Pretentious little insect**_, the Kyuubi thought with a chuckle, _**Your pet can no more harm me than a fly stripped of its wings. And once I'm finished with it, you'll be next.**_

The giant serpent coiled its body into a heap and flicked it yellow forked tongue in the air, as wide as a man's waist, tasting the scent of its newly selected prey. Leveling its sights and head into position, the snake summon lunged with its cavernous mouth spread wide open to swallow Kyuubi whole. On the edge of Kyuubi's peripheral vision, he caught sight of Kabuto breaking into a fast sprint to avoid the snake's jaws while Tsunade, barely conscious and on the ground from having suffered Kabuto's earlier beatings, could only watch with wide eyes.

Just as the snake's mouth snapped closed to bite Kyuubi and impale the demon-possessed vessel on its column-long fangs, the red chakra-haze surrounding demon fox's hands shot out and extended like rubber before Kyuubi's Youkai Ude's clawed fingers caught the snake's jaws before they could close on him, holding them pried open with his greater strength granted by his demonic chakra while anchoring his feet to the ground with chakra and holding the serpent in place.

Tremors shook through the giant snake summon's body as it strained to close its mouth on its prey, but instead of them closing on the demon, Kyuubi slowly, deliberately, moved the snake's jaws closer to himself and gripped them with his flesh-and-blood hands before a fanged grin broke out across his face.

It was at that point that the giant serpent realized its doom was approaching. Its efforts were no longer focused on attack, but now on retreat, struggling against the Kyuubi's iron-gripped hold on its mouth, trying to use its greater size and coiling its body into a bunched position to leverage its head away by pulling up where the smaller demon could have no hand- or foothold.

Its struggles were in vain; Kyuubi's grip on the snake's jaws were unbreakable, and with his feet glued to the earth beneath him, this snake was going nowhere. It might as well have stayed trapped in Jiraiya's swamp. At least then it would've had a chance to escape the Kyuubi's fury.

The demon fox decided to end its struggles. Gathering his chakra to his vessel's legs, he released it outward in an explosion of bursting, transparent blue energy with a _Boom _like thunder from under his feet that propelled him into a rapid, side-winding spin in a corkscrew motion, still holding the snake's jaws and twirling the giant summon's funnel-shaped body like a rolling log.

The giant snake's head and body scraped, whipped and flopped against the ground as Kyuubi continued his spin relentlessly, gaining momentum by the minute and seeming to hang in mid-air as the giant snake summon's neck began to twist like a rope and constrict, snapping bones and tendons, ripping and mangling thick muscles until-

With a sound like wet cloth shreading apart, Kyuubi ripped the serpent's head off from its twisted neck. The headless body thrashed and flailed like a worm while its neck pumped a waterfall of scarlet liquid onto the ground, filling the air with the sweet, tangy scent of iron and copper. Heaving the dead-weight head aside with his enormous strength in mid-air, the demon fox landed lightly onto his feet and faced the grey-haired Oto-spy, the teenager's expression an amusing mixture of shock and fear at the feat he had just witnessed.

When at last the snake summon's headless corpse stilled, the Kyuubi grinned sadisciously. _**"Don't blink, human scum."**_

Against his better judgment and instincts, Kabuto blinked out of reflex-

Kyuubi exploded into motion in the same instant, closing the distance between him and Kabuto in a flash-quick leap and sank his fist deeply into the Medic-nin's belly and sent the grey-haired teen flying several dozen feet back before he crashed into one of the many boulders strewn about the dry, rocky field with a sundering explosion. A curtain of rock and debris flew up from where he crashed and showered the ten meter area around him.

Stumbling, barely managing to stand on his weakened legs, Kabuto emerged from the rubble of the boulder he had crashed into, cradling his stomach in agony with his eyes and mouth wide in a silent scream of pain.

Just the expression Kyuubi savored to watch in a fight to the death: Watching his victims writhe helplessly in pain before the coup de grace.

At that point, the battle was then a one-sided beating where Kyuubi would deliver blow after killing blow against his resilient prey, yet no matter how many times he shattered Kabuto's ribs or broke his neck and limbs with devastating kicks, punches or tail whips back and forth across the battle field, the pretentious little piece of human trash just wouldn't die. Instead, his body kept healing the damage done to it just in time to save the pathetic human from death before the demon fox struck him again.

Kyuubi could wait; he'd have his fun tenderizing the whelp into hamburger before he crushed his skull under his foot. Or maybe he should rip his head off, crush his chest into a pancake, then rip his limbs off slowly? In a different order? The demon couldn't decide which to do first as he thrust-kicked Kabuto's limp form into another boulder.

But such concerns didn't bother the demon. Slow and agonizing forms of torture were all the same to him; the only difference that mattered were the volume of screams, the agony he delivered and the unanswered pleas for mercy.

Kyuubi grinned throughout Kabuto's beating.

* * *

Murky. Dark. Stagnant. Silent. Empty. Those five words were all that were needed to describe the Kyuubi's prison cell.

Shackles bound Naruto's wrists, connected to glowing-red chains like they were fresh from the forge and bolted to the parallel walls to his side. Now matter how hard he yanked and tugged on his restraints, they barely moved and the sigils didn't even seem to chafe or grind against one another when he moved them.

They held taught and held no slack to allow him any leverage, holding his arms up above his head in a standing, spread-eagle position. His heels weren't even touching the bottom of the flooded floor, and he had to stand on the balls of his feet to keep himself from falling limp and having the chains pull his arms under his weight, which would result in his chest cavity being squeezed.

The blond Genin had to give the Kyuubi due credit in its accomplishment. He never would have believed the demon fox could slip past the seal just as Naruto was unconsciously drawing the Kyuubi's chakra to heal his battle wounds, but it seemed the millennia-old demon planned brilliantly to use his chakra to bypass his vessel's warded defenses and establish a link directly into Naruto's mind in the same time using the demon's chakra energy.

Thus Kyuubi pulled himself free from the seal's confinements since the seal's range was only limited to confining the demon, not to everything else it connected to, such as his vessel's mind. All he had needed was his chakra to flood inside his vessel's mind and he could transfer -or that is to say, switch- minds between the seal and Naruto's mind itself like the two sides to a bridge.

The stagnant water was bone-chilling cold, flooding the prison chamber halfway up his shins. The tall, iron-barred gates loomed high above as a testament to his insignificance, and the dark gloom was making his eyes ache from the strain with the torches bolted on the side walls, preventing his eyes to adjust to the darkness while not providing enough illumination for him to see clearly.

One single thought still raced through the bound Genin's mind, despite the futility of his present predicament: How could he escape?

In what felt like hours passed in silence; Naruto didn't dare even try to speak to himself to give himself some comfort from the solitude, if even one wasted breath would spell his doom. A distant plinking like water droplets smacking the flooded water's surface was driving Naruto mad with irritation.

He'd counted over a thousand already and by the time he counted one-and-a-half thousand, he was just about to scream out his irritation to the heavens above when a _splash _sounded beyond the seal gates, from inside the corridors outside the seal's chamber. Several more followed the first, falling into a rhythm of footsteps.

After several tense minutes, a figure finally emerged from the hazy darkness. Distantly he wondered who or what it was approaching him when, after taking a clear sight of him, all thought process stopped.

Standing just outside the iron-barred doors, no more than three paces away from Naruto, was himself.

No, not himself entirely. There were some subtle differences between them: The look-alike had no whisker-scars and his eyes were pale blue instead of indigo. He wore just standard black trousers and long-sleeved shirt, except the clothes were so dark, they seemed to melt and merge with darkness of the shadows, obscuring his form's outline. Where his form began and ended, Naruto could not see.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked, unable to stop himself, "And why the hell do you look just like me?"

The look-alike just smirked -or sneered, rather- too much like Orochimaru that left Naruto feeling a faint pang of dread fill his gut. Not even Kyuubi drew such an immediate reaction from him after just one facial expression.

"For your first question," the look-alike said, his voice just like Naruto's, only slightly more deep and clear, "I don't really have a name per say, but I suppose for the time being, you can call me Doki."

Naruto couldn't help but stare at his look-alike strangely. His name meant "Wrath".

"As for your second question, the reason I look just like you is that I _am_ you. Or rather, a different part of yourself you locked away, deep inside the recesses of your mind. I am the part of your rage incarnate, you might say. I am part of your sentience that first learned of the emotions such as hate and resentment, jealousy and anger.

"You instintively created me when you were first thrown out of the orphanage and you learned that the people of your village hated you without reason that you understood, thus you hated them in turn. I am the manifestation of that same distant psyche. You could call me your mirror opposite."

Naruto glanced away, uncomfortable with the memories Doki just had him recall.

"But enough of that nonsense now; that's all in the past. The reason why I'm here is simple: When the Kyuubi's chakra tapped into your mind and overwhelmed your control, he had unintentionally released me from the mental barriers your unconscious mind created to seal me away.

"But because that demon fox is on the rampage and is too focused on kicking Kabuto's worthless hide back and forth across the plain at the moment, he hasn't yet noticed his chakra is currently damaging your body more swiftly than it can heal. I'm here to stop that, and to do that, I need your help to free yourself and retake control of your body."

"That's a very interesting proposal Doki," Naruto drawled in exasperation, "But how in the hell do you expect me to be of any help while I'm chained inside this wet cell?"

Doki just smiled knowingly. "Do you not yet understand the nature of the seal and how it works with your body?" When Naruto shook his head in negative, the look-alike continued, "Basically, your body is the prison, but the seal itself is the gate, which draws the Kyuubi's chakra and filters it into your chakra system. Seeing as Kyuubi is presently absent, those bonds around your wrists can be removed if you channel your regular chakra into them and break them."

Naruto stared dumbly at Doki.

"The seal on your belly binds you and the Kyuubi together, your minds, body...even your souls. Including your chakras. The Kyuubi said so himself to you when you and he first met face to face: Neither can live without the other."

Naruto's expression turned suspicious in a heartbeat. "If what you said is true about me needing you to regain control of my mind and body, why are you willing to help me? What do you want in exchange?"

Doki's sneer returned ten-fold. "Not quite so much the hopeless fool as before after all. There's hope for you yet.

"The fact is, there is something I want from you: To share your mind, your consciousness, and allow me to become merged with your present psyche."

"And why should I trust you that you won't just take over my mind like Kyuubi?" Naruto asked while glaring accursedly at his mirror opposite.

The look-alike sneered knowingly. "Because you don't have any other choice."

How long they both leveled their gazes at each other, neither could have guessed. Naruto was loath to admit it, but Doki spoke the truth: without his help, Kyuubi could not be stopped and would just continue his rampage until, sooner or later, he set his sights on Konohagakure no Sato and carry out his revenge for his defeat, leaving the few friends Naruto had at the mercy of a merciless monster all too willing to spill blood.

On the other hand, was he really willing to have a darker personality merge with his and be unable to endure the future consequences of his change of identity?

Naruto knew there was no more time for such deliberation. He had to choose the lesser of the two evils.

"...All right," he said, "I'll do it."

Doki's face twisted into a satisfied grin.

"Prepare yourself, then," he said as his shape shimmered briefly before dispersing into black smoke and surging through the iron-barred doors and up Naruto's nostrils, his eyes, his mouth, and ears. Naruto reflexively snapped back, his face twisted in revulsion at the lingering sensation of the thing's touch, smell, and taste.

_"Get ready"_said the disembodied voice of Doki inside Naruto's thoughts, _"'Cause I'm giving you due warning right now; this will hurt like a bitch."_

A flare of pain erupted from Naruto's temple, dwarfing the pain Kyuubi had him experience only moments ago. The pain was like a giant, serrated wedge of rusted iron was being hammered into his temple, borring more deeply into his skull with each pounding pulse of his rib-shaking heartbeat.

He distantly heard a scream sounding from somewhere far away, only able to barely perceive that it was himself that was screaming.

And then, with a crack like shattering metal, his shackles snapped.

* * *

Kyuubi halted in his motion of kicking Kabuto when he sensed something amiss within his perception around the seal. And then there was a faint sound like something had snapped from far away.

Kyuubi only realized what happened after he felt the same pain his vessel's body had endured, after he had made the precaution of numbing the pain receptors: His chakra was receading back into the seal.

And with his demonic energy, his connection with his vessel's mind.

_So sorry, Demon, but your occupancy has expired._

Kyuubi had no chance to question whose voice had spoken, or if it had even been his vessel's; sounding slightly deeper and sibilant. All the demon fox could do was roar in pain from the damaging effects of his own chakra slowly breaking down his vessel's body. The agony made his vision flare white, then suddenly dim black around the edges of his vision before it slowly enveloped his sight and he saw only darkness.

When at last he opened his eyes, the Kyuubi roared and howled in absolute fury: The sight that met him was behind the barred-doors of his cell.

* * *

_'You weren't exaggerating about the pain being a bitch, you sadistic bastard.'_

Contrary to Naruto's humorous thought, he felt anything but fine. It took all of the orange-cladded Genin's willpower to keep himself from bellowing in pain after Kyuubi's chakra cocoon receded back into the seal. His limbs were on fire, his muscles must have multiple tears, and the pain receptors all across his body were flaring with agony from the corrosive effects of Kyuubi's chakra. It was a miracle his body hadn't been torn apart sooner.

Lying in a crumpled heap only ten paces away, Kabuto finally stirred from having recently taken a devastating blow, his chakra healing the damage once more, only much more slowly than before, meaning his chakra supply was diminishing.

His clothes were a mess of tatters and stained with blotches of red from his previous wounds. His glasses were on the ground beside his head, the lenses broken and cracked. His gaze searched Naruto's form, sensing for the powerful demonic energy accompanied by Kyuubi's presence, and grinned maliciously when seeing Naruto had only his own, limited, chakra levels.

After what felt like hours, but only a span of ten seconds at best, Naruto finally managed to stand upright, albeit on unsteady legs and not a moment too soon. As soon as he was on his feet, Kabuto rose from the ground and slid into a fighting posture while breathing heavily.

Out of the corner of Naruto's eye, Tsunade was stirring awake, nearly thirteen paces away behind Kabuto. If he didn't act fast, the Oto-spy would turn his sights on the Slug Sennin and Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to help her after that. Thankfully, Kabuto hadn't noticed yet. Or he didn't care. Either way, this fight had to come to an end.

Flipping their Kunais from their thigh-holsters, Orochimaru's right-hand man and the Kyuubi-vessel dashed toward one another with full intent to kill. Inspite of their numerous injuries they sustained after a fight lasting far beyond the limit of their endurance, their pain was forgotten in the thoroughs of battle lust.

Their kunais clashed with a high-pitched _Ting _of metal striking metal. All forms of reason flew away. Instinct and hard-wired reflexes guided their movements.

_Slash--Duck--Kick--Evade. Punch--Backflip--Sprint--Slide--Kick. _These were the only thoughts that raced through both Naruto's mind as well as Kabuto's: The reflexes honed through grueling training ingrained into their minds.

For untold minutes the combatants fought like wild hunting beasts. When Naruto attacked, Kabuto evaded and gave ground to avoid the smaller Genin's reach. When Kabuto retaliated, Naruto only fought back harder and countered every punch, kick, and stab by a fraction of a second to escape injury.

A cloud of dust and dirt kicked up around the two combatants from their constantly shuffling feet, obscuring them from sight as their melee became increasingly deadly. It escalated into what could only be described as a whirlwind of motion, both fighting to their last breath and yet unable to land a punishing blow. How long they exchanged attacks, neither knew nor did they care.

Kabuto took the initiative to end the fight. Slapping Naruto's hands out wide, the silver-haired Otonin dashed inside Naruto's guard and jabbed a sharp punch to the blonde's cheek and drove a downward kick into the dazed Uzumaki's leg at the kneecap.

Naruto's leg buckled like a broken twig under his weight. He fell back onto his side unbalanced and took a hard kick to the chest, which threw him just shy of five paces away from the now-conscious Tsunade, face-up and staring at her with unfocused, glassy eyes. The blond, hazel-eyed woman was shouting something to him, her expression grief-stricken and scared, yet despite seeing her lips move, he heard no words. He heard -or felt rather- the scuffle of approaching footsteps, but it sounded so far away.

Merciless hands, that which have taken lives and showed boundless cruelty under the liege of their master, gripped Naruto's wrists like a steel trap, hauling him up off the ground until his feet were no longer touching the earth, held aloft like a broken string puppet. Dazedly he gazed into the face of Kabuto's, his sneer reminding the blond Genin much of his split persona, Doki.

Kabuto regarded Naruto's unfocused expression with disgust, still holding the dazed boy out at arms length. "Pathetic little insect" he said with a voice filled with malice, "In what world did you think you could fight and defeat me? What was it did you think to accomplish by yourself?"

When Naruto didn't answer, the Oto-spy continued, "You should have left your demon to kill me. But like an idiot with too much pride, you thought to defeat me yourself. It's no wonder you're such a fool; your pride gets the better of you, blinding you to what you should be doing, instead of trying to save face."

After a moment, Naruto finally registered the words Kabuto had spoken, and he offered a defiant, bloody smirk. His voice was weak from the slowly diminishing effects of his spent adrenalin. "Pride had nothing to do with it, shit-wits. I only stopped the Kyuubi so I could keep my body. Any longer and that fur-ball would have made my body his." He leveled his gaze strait into Kabuto's eyes. "And another thing: Don't preach about pride blinding me when you've left yourself open."

Before Kabuto could do more than widen his eyes in surprise, Naruto heaved his legs up against his chest and drove his heels into a hard kick in Kabuto's throat, crushing the windpipe like a hollow straw from the kinetic force. The blow would have killed a normal man, but Kabuto's blood limit would likely repair the damage.

The grip around Naruto's wrists vanished as Kabuto clutched desperately at his throat while breathing in hacking gurgle, and the Kyuubi-vessel wasted no time in putting in one more uppercut punch into Kabuto's jaw that threw the Otonin's head back, knocking him back in a stumble. His hitai-ate flew off his forehead from the punch and clattered a dagger-toss away behind him, forgotten.

Inspite of his crippling injuries Naruto gave him, Kabuto still had enough strength to lash out with a hammer-fist blow to the blond Genin's forehead and send the orange-clad Uzumaki back skidding on his side into Tsunade's waiting arms.

The Oto-spy wheezed desperately, one hand fishing inside his rear pouch and plucking a tiny dark pill from it, eagerly chewing it up. He'd taken another Hyorogan pill to replenish his chakra. Already his dark-bruised throat was healing, lightening until no speck of a bruise remained.

Tsunade clutched at Naruto desperately. So much blood saturated his clothes, she felt faint at merely touching them. How he had managed to injure Kabuto as he did with his leg broken was nothing short of monumental, yet he was still trying to get up on his feet when he should have long ago fell unconscious from the numerous amount of injuries he'd sustained in a battle that lasted longer than a whole hour.

Naruto shrugged Tsunade's hands away as he finally got the strength to stand; The Slug Sennin's hands were shaking too badly to grab a handhold and keep him still.

Tsunade stared pleadingly at Naruto's back as he rose to face Kabuto once more, his left leg shaking terribly from the strain of supporting his weight.

A memory came unbidden from her past that overlapped with Naruto's image; her long-dead brother; her first lover; the bet she made to give Naruto her grandfather's necklace if he mastered the Rasengan in a week; the pledge she heard him make to become Hokage and earn the respect of his village.

Tears poured unfailingly from her eyes as Naruto crossed his forefingers and gritted "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" under his breath, conjuring a Shadow Clone to his left side in a swirl of smoke. "Please stop, Naruto" she pleaded in a cracked voice, "Enough! Stop fighting! You'll only get yourself killed! What about your dream to become Hokage! Please, for my sake, run away!"

Kabuto sneered dangerously as he flipped his kunai in his hand. Without another moment's hesitation, he surged forward with his kunai raised to kill.

Naruto suddenly spoke a tone of utmost confidence. "Be ready to hand over that bad-luck charm necklace of yours, Obaa-chan. 'Cause I'm about to show you the result of my week-long training!"

Kabuto was now in a mad sprint, closing the distance rapidly with every step. Twenty feet.

"Please, run away!"

Naruto smiled softly, somehow conveying his expression to Tsunade even with his back to her. "I won't run away and leave you."

Kabuto closed the distance between them within a five count, skidding to a stop an arm's length away. With a vicious thrust, he stabbed his kunai toward Naruto's face.

There was a splatter of blood as the kunai pierced strait through Naruto's hand, the blade sliding clean past the hilt until Naruto's fingers closed around Kabuto's fist holding his bloody kunai knife.

"I won't die. Until I become Hokage, I refuse to let death itself claim me." He eyes flashed dangerously as his grip tightened into a steep trap. "And now you can't escape."

Suddenly, the _Kage Bunshin _began weaving its hands around Naruto's outstretched free hand as the original body discharged the chakra from his palm, making the chakra spin while the Doppleganger molded and compressed the energy tighter and tighter into a sphere of swirling, twisting blue and white chakra until it formed a fist-sized azure sphere, pulsing with pent-up power. The _Kage Bunshin_ dispersed into smoke on the technique's completion.

'_Channel the chakra. Spin it. Compress the energy.' _This thought raced repeatedly through the blond Genin's mind as he brought forth everything he'd drilled inside his head from Jiraiya's lessons and over a week's worth of practice.

_'What is this?!' _Sensing the danger of the Kyuubi-vessel's chakra sphere, Kabuto tried to wrestle his hand free from Naruto's grip, but the Genin's hand held him in a powerful vice. He could not escape in time to evade the blond shinobi's newest technique. He could only manage a last-ditch effort to clutch Naruto's orange jacket around his chest before the blond shinobi thrusted the Spiral-sphere into Kabuto's belly.

"TAKE THIS, BASTARD!" he bellowed, slamming the chakra sphere into Kabuto's midsection with an explosion of blue and white radiance. The blast from the globe of compressed chakra made the air itself ripple from the point of impact as the compressed air pressure created a shockwave like an expanding ring. The concussive ripple of air pressure, however, failed to mask Naruto's bellowing cry of his newly mastered Ninjutsu.

"RASENGAN!"

The Spiral-sphere literally tore and twisted into Kabuto's belly, ripping apart the cloth of his shirt as a spiraling vortex of blue and white energy expanded into what looked like a contracting spiral vortex. The spinning force behind the attack blasted Kabuto back as the Rasengan jettisoned the Oto-spy and dragged him back a dagger-toss distance before he crashed into a large boulder ten yards away with an earth-quaking rumble that shook through the ground and air.

The force shattering the mound of stone into broken chunks and utterly breaking apart the large section Kabuto crashed into with the expanded sphere of chakra, forming a rough-hewn depression before the compressed energy dispersed and bursted like bubble of thick gas. A trench of crushed and broken earth trailed from Naruto's standing point all the way to the boulder itself.

Tsunade stared wide-eyed at the back of the gasping Genin, hardly believing someone so young had accomplished mastering a technique as powerful and advanced as the Rasengan. Sure, the means of which he created the technique were unorthodox, but still...The ruined pile of rubble and debris bespoke the devastating power Uzumaki just unleashed.

A rocky clatter alerted Naruto and Tsunade. The rubble which held Kabuto confined was shoved aside as, battered, bloody, and all around mangled, Kabuto emerged from the ruined remains of the giant boulder.

His exposed belly in his torn, tattered shirt was bright, bloody red with the flesh disfigured and twisted, a clear sign his organs had suffered the worst of the Rasengan's devastating effects. His breath came in rugged gasps as he leaned on one arm to steady himself against the ruined rock. For lack of a better term, Kabuto looked no better than if he had been chewed up and spat out.

Naruto suddenly stiffened before he gagged and vomited a mass of blood from his mouth. It was only reflex that he forced to draw air into his weakening lungs before his legs buckled and his back hit the rocky soil. But by the time he became aware of the pain in his chest, his consciousness was dimming.

Despite the gruesome quantities of blood accumulated around Naruto's body, Tsunade rushed to his side and tried to diagnose his symptoms. The spiky-blond haired Genin's breathing was ragged and shallow, and his face was paling from the blood loss he suffered. She turned her sights on the smirking Kabuto. "What did you do to him? How can you still...?"

Kabuto's grin was colder than ice. The bloody area around his exposed stomach began to hiss with steam rising off the the wound as the blood slowly receded back into Kabuto's body, healing it until only his pale, unmarred skin was visible. "Just before Naruto-kun's attack blasted its full force into my stomach, I transferred all my available chakra to my belly to heal the damage just as it occurred. My In'yu Shometsu no Jutsu was already healing the damage inflicted."

Of course he didn't divulge this technique required nearly all available chakra supply to utilize. "This is the reason Orochimaru-sama values me: Not simply for my skills or killing instincts, but my Genkaikekkei to heal any manner of wound-"

Just like Naruto, Kabuto gagged as a rush of blood was spat out his mouth, his eyes wide with confusion. Slowly, his legs bent, buckling until he collapsed facefirst into the ground.

_'Damn it. There's too much damage. Not enough chakra to heal it all.' _Curious still as to how much damage the Rasengan did to his organs, his left hand was drifting to his rear pouch and plucked out another hyorogan pellet, eagerly chewing it to replenish his dwindling reserves of energy.

It did him no good. The Rasengan not only destroyed most of his organs, but his chakra coils around his stomach, where the energy from processed food was circulated into the body, were also ruined. He couldn't utilize anymore chakra until his keiraikukei fixed itself.

Seeing as how his body wasn't responding to his commands very well, Kabuto could turn his head and neck. One eye dropping closed, the Oto-spy watched as Tsunade pressed her green, chakra-haloed palms against Naruto's convulsing chest, tremors wracking through his body as the Slug Sennin tried desperately to heal the damage from Kabuto's final attack. Her large breasts heaved with every harsh breath she took, battling against her own fear of blood that covered much of Naruto's exposed body and clothes with a sickened grimace.

Kabuto grinned. The instant before the Rasengan struck him, he gripped Naruto's chest and used his Chakra Enjinto to sever the blond Genin's chakra coils around his heart. Not even Kyuubi could help him now. "You're wasting your efforts" Kabuto rasped breathlessly, "With his heart's keirakukei cut, little Naruto-kun cannot draw the Kyuubi's chakra and heal them. It'll only be another minute before the brat's heart stops beating and he dies-"

"Shut up!" Tsunade hissed acidly. "As soon as I'm done with him, I'll kill you myself."

Kabuto fell silent, but his eyes spoke volumes. He was sure the demon brat would die.

Throughout the Medic-nin's exchange, Naruto drifted in and out of consciousness only through sheer force of will power. Pain wracked and flared through every pore and nerve across his body. It was a feat in of itself he hadn't succumbed to it and fell unconscious so long before he hit the ground.

He gazed up at Tsunade's distraught expression through unfocused eyes, briefly wondering what happened to the loud, boisterous woman whom sent him crashing through a food cart just a week ago with one flick of her finger. His chest was feeling colder and colder with every thump of his heartbeat. He gasped, forcing his lungs to draw more air to his rapidly weakening body.

_'I wonder what's going through Kyuubi's head right now, knowing he and I are going to die together?' _The thought brought a bloody smile to his lips. The detachment he felt from his body was almost surreal; he couldn't even feel Tsunade's hands on his chest nor the warm energy she pushed into his flesh, desperately trying to repair his severed chakra coils.

No doubt the demon fox was frantic with fear, pleading to stay alive. All the pain from his multitude of wounds and injuries began to ebb away as the edges of his vision gradually grew darker, darker, until the blackness swallowed him.

There was a strange, peaceful sensation in the nothingness Naruto floated in, perpetual and yet calming like a dreamless sleep. Perhaps this was what death truly was: Just a dreamless sleep.

A glimmer of green light flared above him from the darkness like a lone star in the night sky, drawing his sight to it like a moth to the flame. Hesitantly, Naruto reached up with his left hand, still bearing the puncture wound from Kabuto's kunai, and grasped the glimmering jade light.

Warmth began to flood his chest as globes of white light grew exponentially brighter, flaring like the brightest sunrise until the darkness that pervaded his vision all but vanished, replaced with white light that gradually dimmed until his visual clarity returned, allowing him to see shapes, colors, and dimensions.

The sight that met his eyes was the pale-blond Tsunade starring down at him from above, her hazel-brown eyes wide with relief and her lavender-touched lips drawn in a relieved smile. Naruto peered down at his clenched left fist and opened it, revealing the green jewel of Tsunade's necklace. Some of the blood from the puncture wound smeared the jewel, but it still shined with radiance.

Naruto turned his sight back to Tsunade and smiled in triumph, albeit a weak one on account of his exhaustion. "Guess I win the bet, huh?"

The Slug Sennin could only nod, still smiling. She'd finally given the necklace to the young shinobi, and he hadn't met with the same misfortune as her younger brother or her first lover. The feeling of relief washed over her shoulders, leaving a calm, soothing sensation of quiet peace.

To be continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes-**

Jutsus used in chapter:

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Doppleganger/Clone)-_A Jounin-level technique; user creates a solid double of him/herself by using their chakra to shape the body and gives the look-alike construct their own free will. Each Doppleganger is able to even act either independently or follow mental commands given to them by their mind-link with the main body. Drawback is that the technique requires one to either split his chakra evenly between himself and all the Dopplegangers he/she creates, but with every Doppleganger destroyed, the main body receives knowledge gained by the construct. Each single clone can do any Jutsu the main body can, given the amount of chakra used to conjure it.

_Kuchyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)-_A high-level technique where one can bring forth an animal partner to aid them in battle, escape, espionage, etc. Technique requires one signing a contract on a summoning scroll in order to conjure an animal summon. Jutsu requires also an enormous amount of chakra to summon any significantly powerful, large, or mature summoning beast.

_Chakra Enjinto (Chakra Scalpel)-_A Medic-nin technique; one gathers charka to their hands which can cut muscles, arteries, internal organs, even chakra coils without damaging the flesh itself. Requires high-level concentration and skill to maintain and use effectively.

_In'yu Shometsu no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Wound Removal)-_Kabuto's Genkaikekkei Jutsu; using his special genetic skill, Kabuto can heal damage done to his body even before any fatal injury kills him, literally "removing the wound like light chasing away a shadow" and replacing all damaged cells and organs through rapid cellular replication. The drawback on this technique is that it drains him of his chakra very quickly.

_Ninpo: Hari Jizo no Jutsu (Ninja art: Hair needle Gaurdian Technique)-_Jiraiya's technique; he gathers chakra to his hair to lengthen it and hardens the hair into spines like porcupine quills which shapes into a cloak that covers him from knees to head with sharp needles, discouraging physical enemy attacks.

_Ninpo: Dokugiri no Jutsu (Ninja art: Poison mist Technique)-_A Medic-nin technique; one gathers chakra to their throat and converts the air in their lungs into a poisonous gas which he/she expels into a cloud of poisonous fumes. One inhalation can kill a man quickly.

_Doton: Yominuma no Jutsu (Earth Form: Hellswamp Technique)-_Jiraiya's technique; he summons a swamp much the same as how he summons his toads, or rather changes the soil itself into muddy tar with his chakra.

_Doton: Dochuu Eigyo no Jutsu (Earth Form: Underground Projection Fish Technique)-_ A Chuunin-level technique where one burrows underground and can move about freely and attack from below, delivering a surprise attack.

_Rasengan (Spiral-sphere)-_An A-class technique where one gathers chakra to their hand, spins the chakra, then compresses the energy into a sphere of swirling blue energy no larger than a fist, but with the power of a hurricane. Requires a massive amount of chakra to maintain and create, but requires no hand-seals. One of the Yondaime's original techniques.

_Bunshin Bakuha (Exploding Doppleganger)_-A technique of having one's shadow clones concentrate all their available energy into their center and having it explode like a bomb. A high-leveled technique which requires the presence of a shadow clone.

_Suiton: Teppodama (Water Form: Water Projectile)-_ A basic water technique where one converts chakra into water in the user's stomach before blasting it out like a cannon ball. Used mainly for attack and distractions.

Translations:

Kyuubi no Kitsune- Fox of Ninetails

Konohagakure no Sato no Ho Kuni- Village of Hidden Leaf of the Land of Fire

Sennin- Hermit/Sage/Wizard

Oto- Sound

Ningu- Ninja Weapons

Yondaime- Forth Lord

Youkai Ude- Phantom Arm

Hokage- Fire Shadow

Hyorogan- Soldier Pill

Gama Kudo- Toad Mountain

Gama Fuwa'ashi- Toad Lightfoot

Keirakukei- Chakra coils

Genkaikekkei- Bloodline limit


	2. Ch 02: Becoming a True Shinobi

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be typing this fanfic here, now would I?**

**Ch.02: **

_Death._

_Such a simple word. It's literal translation means "the absence of life from a living being". And yet its statement bears a hard weight, a powerful impact upon us humans. With its simple statement is the the declaration of our deepest fear: dying._

_I find it rather ironic that as a species, we are the only kind that kill and take lives without the express purpose for what the animals of the wild do for the sake of survival; we kill for the sake of profit, power, or different, vain, personal reasons like revenge or defending another from harm by killing they who would slay an innocent. And yet despite our inherited nature to take life, we fear death because we know so little about it and that inexperience leaves us terrified._

_Another irony of that concept is that, while basic human culture dictates that killing is a grievous transgression, it is also the greatest means of redemption. One of our strangest contradictions._

_Perhaps we fear it because we want desperately to hold on to everything we have experienced and taken for granted, wanting to know more about the world around us or accomplish what we wish to do, to achieve in our lifetime and give our lives some purpose, some meaning beyond a simple existence we wish to be remembered for. Or perhaps it's that finality, that oppressive, ominous end awaiting us all at the end of the road of our lives._

_Death is not just a word; it is a concept understood by every living being that breathes on this planet. We just gave it a title._

_I've heard of some say that death is like a release from the pain of this world. Whether physical or emotional, death gives us a release, a detachment of feeling from everything. Others say death leaves you feeling cold, or heavy like a giant weight rests on your chest, leaving the experience itself painful until you're swept away into oblivion. Or maybe death is like a dreamless sleep; where you float in absolute nothingness and all concepts of time and awareness holds no meaning. You sleep so deeply, only the feeling of absolute serenity and peace and acceptance fills your chest as you rest in the depths of the impenetrable darkness. _

_This statement I remark as from my own experience. As it is, I don't really care._

_While I may not fear death, I don't welcome it either. Maybe it's just my defiance that rejects just accepting an inevitable fate, but so long as there is breath in my body, I will live on and experience all that life itself has to offer. I've lived the earliest years of my life knowing only pain and loneliness, but that doesn't mean I'll meet my end the same way. So what if my struggle to hold onto life seems like a desperate attempt to escape the fate that awaits us all? Every second being alive is as precious as a lifetime in paradise._

_So what if we humans don't have long lives? You don't have to live long to live a good life._

_Having died twice, I can speak from experience._

From the memoires of Naruto Uzumaki

**Becoming a True Shinobi**

Atop one of the many sheer rock formations on the rocky outskirts of Tanzaku Town, Jiraiya and Orochimaru stood opposite to one-another, pausing in their melee to observe what had happened to cause the sudden explosion of chakra levels and blast discharges. Their sights were inevitably drawn to where Naruto, Tsunade, Shizune, and Kabuto were stopped nearly three-quarters of a mile away. Kabuto was lying face-down amidst the debris of a shattered boulder where a trench of paved, crushed earth trailed toward Naruto, where Tsunade was hovering above him while he was on his back, apparently injured.

Orochimaru hissed furiously at the spectacle of Tsunade beside the Kyuubi-brat. How could such a worthless Genin actually defeat Kabuto? His strength and skills could rival Hatake Kakashi's power, and yet there he was amidst the rubble and debris of the boulder the Kyuubi vessel blasted him into with the unmistakable technique created by the Yondaime: the Rasengan. He narrowed his yellow slitted eyes toward the ground pair. _'Godsdamned brat. You'll pay for striking my henchman.'_

As for Jiraiya, he offered a little grin of pride at his newest student's show of strength. A part of him could hardly fathom how the brat had mastered -executed would be the proper term, he reminded himself- the Rasengan with so little time practicing. Seems Tsunade lost that wager she made with the blond demon vessel. He couldn't help but chuckle. _'Some things never change. She's still terrible at gambling.'_

"Don't worry about Tsunade and the brat" Jiraiya said to Orochimaru, whom was still looking toward Naruto and Tsunade's position, "The brat'll be fine after Tsunade patches him up. You and I have a fight to finish."

Orochimaru ignored Jiraiya completely. His sole focus of attention was centered on the Kyuubi vessel. _'That brat's obviously more than he appears if he could master such a powerful technique. And it was no coincidence about that demonic chakra earlier. His connection with the demon is giving more and more power.'_ His brow furrowed in anger. _'I should have just killed him back in the Forest of Death. And if the Akatsuki get their hands on him, my life is assuredly forfeit.'_

Gauging the distance carefully, the Snake Sennin edged his feet into position for a jump. A glance back to Jiraiya confirmed he was unaware of his intent. 'The time to kill the brat is-'

Jiraiya's gaze flickered to Naruto and Tsunade. His eyes widened when he understood the Snake Sennin's intent.

'Now!' On that thought, Orochimaru blasted into a flying leap toward his target, covering the distance of over thrity paces in a second with his jump and leaving him airborne, sailing through the air. Jiraiya cursed and hurriedly followed close behind with a jump just as great as the Snake Sennin's.

Orochimaru's long, flexible tongue shot out his mouth and snapped taut around Jiraiya's ankle before the Gama Sennin could twist aside. A giant heave of strength and Jiraiya was whipped into an arched swing that sent him crashing into the hard ground nearly two feet deep from the impact. Only his arms and legs rested limply above his prone body on the flat ground, his main body embedded into the hard-packed, rocky soil.

With a quick yank, Orochimaru used his tongue to pull and swing himself through midair and rocketed toward Tsunade and Naruto as a serpent emerged from his throat and out his gaping mouth, which the blade of his Katana, Kusanagi, extended from the snake's gullet an split-second after. With his arms still nothing more than withered husks, he kept the Katana hilt in his mouth. He leveled the sword tip and aimed it at the buxom Medic-nin, aiming to kill her first and keep her from aiding anyone else on the field.

Tsunade's eyes widened in shock at Orochimaru's sudden appearance, but knew she could not evade the blade thrust while on her hands and knees. She was surely dead.

She didn't notice a hand landing on her heavy breast until she felt someone shoved her onto her back and away from the path of the weapon's thrust. Too stunned to move as the hovering tip of Kusanagi stopped and quivered two feet above her face, she lied still as the shock was slowly releasing its grip on her limbs. A second closer glance at the sword tip -a bloody blade tip- drew her gaze to her front. The sight that met her eyes froze her heart.

Katana point stabbed through his chest, Naruto coughed a glob of blood from his throat, splattering at his feet. His posture was slack, his limbs limp and quivering, yet still he stood with Orochimaru's Kusanagi embedded through his chest and protruding out his back while one hand clutched feebly on the sword's sharp edge. He must have shoved her aside at the last moment to save her from Orochimaru's poison-coated blade. _'How can he still be alive?'_

Similar thoughts raced through the Snake Sennin's mind, but Orochimaru shoved them aside as he savagely withdrew his sword from the Kyuubi vessel's chest in a flourish, whipping the blood off the blade with a shake of his head. Scarlet pumped from the open wound, staining and saturating into Naruto's orange jacket in a blossom of red around his chest. The blond Jinchuuriki fell to his knees, weakly gripping at the puncture wound with his wounded left hand as Orochimaru loomed dangerously above the helpless Genin.

Naruto barely heard the Snake Sennin whisper "Die!" under his breath before Kusanagi struck him again in a downward slash across his left eye, down his face, past his lips, his chin, then completely down across his chest, cutting open his exposed skin, ending at his right hip. He fell onto his back with a thud, too weak to even moan from the agony of his many wounds. He tried to open his left eye, but it wouldn't respond. The poison coating Orochimaru's blade was already killing the cells around the wound. His mind was moving sluggishly due to the numbing agents of the poison.

Just for good measure, Orochimaru gave the Kyuubi vessel a savage kick in the side, lifting him off the ground onto his unsteady feet where a cross-cut of Kusanagi's blade opened a line across the bridge of his nose and cheeks, the force sending the blond into a spin where he landed face-down in the hard-packed dirt. He didn't even have enough breath to groan. His vision was fading; fading...he didn't -couldn't- even hear Orochimaru's words as he was swallowed into oblivion.

"And now you die, Kyuubi brat. I'm sending you to hell." With that final statement, Orochimaru brought the blade down in a virtical slash toward Naruto's exposed back.

Tsunade jumped in the blade's path, taking the slash on her back and cutting her flesh while shielding the blond Jinchuuriki with her body, hoping to protect him. She could have just attacked the Snake Sennin while he was distracted with Naruto, but the sight of so much blood was preventing her to think strait.

Orochimaru snarled in fury at the Slug Sennin. "If you get in my way, I'll kill you with the brat!" He then proceeded to hack and cut at Tsunade's unprotected back with abandon, hardly caring whether any of his slashes actually did any mortal injury. An upward slash across her left shoulder shoved the buxom blond woman off Naruto's body and the Snake Sennin made sure she wouldn't interfere again. He put all his weight behind the diagonal slash across her chest, cutting into her ribs and leaving her near unconscious from the mass of wounds.

Finished with Tsunade, Orochimaru turned around just in time for Naruto's fist to smash into his face, savagely snapping the Snake Sennin's head back and breaking his nose, sending him to stumble past the prone body of the Slug Sennin. Orochimaru shook his head, disoriented from the blow but steadied his feet just as Naruto fell into a defensive stance between the pale Nukenin and Tsunade. How could he still be standing, Orochimaru wondered, with so much of Kusanagi's poison running through his system?

Stranger still, Naruto's vacant expression showed he was still -partially, at least- unconscious, as his eyes were glossy and unfocused, despite his solid stance. As impossible as it seemed, Naruto had actually allowed his instincts to take control of his body while his mind slowly came back to the surface of his awareness.

The answer came to him as he watched the demon vessel's minor wounds begin to close before sealing shut, completely healed but leaving pale lines that contrasted with his tanned, weathered skin. The Kyuubi was still channeling his chakra into the brat, healing all his injuries. Despite that, however, only the wounds caused by Kabuto were healing while the wounds from Kusanagi were not. While the poison inside his system must have been burned away by the Kyuubi's demonic chakra and cleansing his inner-coil system, the poison still prevented the demon fox's chakra from fully regenerating the scored flesh.

In the back of Naruto's mind, he could hear the demon fox's sibilant whisper, **_"Don't think that my giving you chakra means anything other than my own survival. I can't have you die and taking me with you because of your stupidity. That's twice you've died and nearly brought me along with you. And don't forget that I will take your body in due time, but for now I'll settle with surviving this day. Now finish that serpent bitch already; I grow tired of his presence.". _**Regardless of his absolute loathing of the demon, Naruto was more than happy to comply, glaring at the Snake Sennin with his one eye as his mental clarity returned.

Despite his strength rapidly rejuvenating, Naruto was still no match for Orochimaru in either skill, strength, speed, or experience and both knew it too. The pale Nukenin's first move nearly cleaved the Jinchuuriki's head off his shoulders had he not ducked Kusanagi's crosscut, and by then Naruto was back-peddling desperately to keep out of the deadly Katana's reach as it whistled through the air.

_'Do or die at this point' _Naruto thought, knowing he couldn't run forever, _'I must be insane, but better my sanity than my life.'_

Without a instant of hesitation, knowing how suicidal his next move would prove to be if he made the slightest error, Naruto stopped in his tracks, and Orochimaru capitalized on the chance to kill the demon vessel, bringing his Kusanagi in a downward slash to split the boy in two. There was no escape.

* * *

Jiraiya regained consciousness just as had Shizune and Naruto's two frog summons; Gama Fuwa'ashi and Gama Kudo.

The sight that greeted them upon awakening was something none had expected: Just fifteen strides away from their vicinity, Naruto and Orochimaru faced off, the blond Genin grasping Kusanagi's blade with both hands as the Snake Sennin struggled to pull his Katana free. The blade of Kusanagi cut deeply into Naruto's palms, scarlet running down the blade and dripping into the soil.

A strangled groan growled from Naruto's throat, straining his muscles to hold onto Orochimaru's Kusanagi while the Snake Sennin hissed with frustration, having no luck in taking his sword from the demon vessel's grip. Neither broke their leveled gazes, issuing the most hateful-looking glares that promised the other they wouldn't leave the battle field without spilling the other's blood.

Orochimaru twisted the Kusanagi blade out of Naruto's grip in such a sudden flourish, the blonde's hands were ripped open even further, but Kyuubi's chakra quickly mended the damage, binding the flesh back together and leaving pale scars. Jiraiya was already beginning to weave hand signs while Shizune armed her needle-launcher just as Gama Kudo and Gama Fuwa'ashi hopped toward the scene to aid Naruto. But no matter how quickly they tried to, they wouldn't get there in time to make a difference.

The Snake Sennin brought his sword up to slash at the Jinchuuriki once more-

-Except Naruto was suddenly inside the arc of Orochimaru's sword swing.

**_"This is for Saru-jiji, BASTARD!"_**, Naruto yelled, pulling his arm back and jabbing his fingers viciously into the Snake Sennin's left eye. He curled his fingers around his prize, and savagely tore it from Orochimaru's eye socket where he screamed in absolute agony, pulling his Kusanagi back into his gullet and futility clutching at his empty eye socket with his ruined arms, all the while screaming obscenities and wailing in pain.

A final uppercut from Naruto snapped Orochimaru's head back and sent the Nukenin stumbling, dazed and confused.

_'I must retreat!', _Orochimaru thought desperately, pivoting around in a mad spin, _'I'm injured! I must get away! Where's Kabuto?!'_

Upon turing around, however, his face was met with Tsunade's powerful punch. His cheek bone shattered, and his body soared past the surprised Naruto before skidding to a stop several strides away from the no-longer-prone Kabuto. The gray-haired Medic-nin realized he and his master were now at a severe disadvantage.

"Orochimaru-sama! Call Manda!!"

Jiraiya cursed just as Kabuto made a desperate leap toward Orochimaru. The name the Oto-spy mentioned could only be the master of the snake summons. Sparing just an instant to gauge how Tsunade and Naruto were faring as his hands were already weaving for a summoning, the blond Jinchuuriki and Shizune were on their feet and otherwise out of harms way. The busty, platinum-blond Slug Sennin was already weaving the hand signs for a summoning.

A closer inspection on Tsunade, the point on her forehead which held a diamond-shaped crest was now glowing a bright purple, where thick swirling designs like tattoos curled up her forehead and down between her eyes in the outline of a butterfly, slowly spreading out before stopping. A few seconds later, and her wounds began to sizzle, mend, then close altogether, completely healed. A glance toward Shizune showed that Tsunade's apprentice was not so much as relieved but worried.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. Either he was mistaken, or Tsunade just used a Kinjutsu she told him of nearly ten years ago. The Souzou Saisei no Jutsu: a forbidden technique that would heal any and all her injuries at the cost of shortening her lifespan. She must have been in dire need to use it.

He had no time left to dwell on that. Finishing his hand signs and praying Tsunade's poison wouldn't hinder his technique as before, Jiraiya slapped his palm on the ground just as Tsunade and Kabuto did the same, shouting "Kuchyose no Jutsu!"

Three consecutive explosions of smoke and dust boomed, forming a triangular parameter where three gigantic beasts emerged from the smoke cover: A giant toad, an enormous slug, and a gigantic snake.

Tsunade stood perched on the head of her summoning animal, Katsuuyu: A white slug with blue-green stripes running down her back. Beside the Slug Sennin, Naruto stood ready. Shizune was down below with the demon vessel's frog summons and, after concentrating his senses, his last two _Kage Bunshins_.

Tsunade turned back to Naruto. When she saw his wound across his eye, she moved to help heal it but Naruto shoved her hands away. "Don't bother. My eye's gone and Kyuubi's chakra already burned away all traces of the poison. He had to sever my blood flow away from the sword wounds to keep me from dying, and these scars won't go away. Just concentrate on the fight." His right eye flicked down toward Shizune and his frog summon before turning back to Tsunade. "I'm going down below. I'll help how I can, but I can't promise anything." And without another word Naruto jumped off Katsuuyu's head and down to Shizune and the frog summons.

Gama Bunta puffed at his pipe while speaking in a low (relatively speaking) voice, staring at each summon and their summoners in turn. His voice was like a rumbling land-slide. "Orochimaru and Manda, Tsunade and Katsuuyu, and you and I, together again. Brings back old memories, eh, Jiraiya?"

Contrary to Gama Bunta's nostalgic comment, the Gama Sennin was all business. "Stop dwelling down memory lane and get ready to fight. This is where Orochimaru is finally brought to justice."

Gama Bunta was a giant of a toad, easily two hundred feet high with brown, warty hideskin. A vertical scar line ran down across his left eye for twenty feet, and swirling "brush-stroke" tattoos covered his face like make-up, across his back and around his belly. He wore a black _hoari _half-coat with a Kanji in its center at the back and a Nodachi at his hip which was fastened by thick lengths of gauze around his waist. He smoked from a bowl-pipe clamped in his jaws and puffed out clouds of smoke while atop his head, Jiraiya prepared his Ninjutsus.

"Orochimaru", Manda said with a vicious, hissing growl. "How dare you summon me for your petty fights! Do you want me to kill you?"

Easily the largest of the three summons, Manda was twice as large and heavy as the last two snake summons, bearing a flat, wedge-shaped head with four back-pointing horns with a huge mouth large enough to swallow Gama Bunta whole, and his purple-scaled, black banded body was easily over a thousand feet long, and seventy feet thick. His eyes were a bright yellow, with vertical slit pupils as long as a man was tall. His serpentine body coiled beneath him, ready for the attack.

Before Kabuto could even raise any attempt to plead to the giant snake summon, Orochimaru beat him to it. "Shut your ungrateful mouth, insect. You are my servant, and will do as I bid. Do otherwise, and I'll slice your head off with my Kusanagi. Now I order you to kill these wretches!"

Kabuto nearly quailed with fear, knowing the consequences of what would happen if Manda discovered his summoner was not only unable to use Ninjutsu, but also without an eye and severely wounded at present. Insulting a giant volatile serpent while so wounded was the equivalent of suicide.

But thankfully, Manda couldn't tell from his vantage point, and the murderous tone of voice Orochimaru spoke with was more than enough to unsettle the beast. The giant purple snake grumbled under his breath about having a hundred sacrifice meals afterward and showed no further protests.

While Katsuuyu stayed motionless and quiet, Gama Bunta threw the proverbial fuel on the bonfire by puffing a streaming cloud of smoke into Manda's face. The giant serpent's eyes flashed dangerously.

"You...I think I'll have some toad for dinner tonight. Be honored you'll soon fill my belly."

Gama Bunta was undaunted, pulling out his Nodachi blade free from its wooden sheath in his webbed hand. "I've always wanted a snake-skin wallet."

Jiraiya leveled his glare toward his ex-teem mate. "We're no longer comrades, Orochimaru. Today you die."

"Commrades?" the Snake Sennin laughed. A cruel cackle. "Born a fool, lived a fool, and so you'll die the fool."

"We are the Three Sennin no more!" Tsunade roared with a booming voice. She was done with words; all that was left was to fight. Following her declaration was a pensive silence that seemed to last longer than it actually was.

Katsuuyu attacked first, spitting a green acidic slime from her mouth toward Manda, but the giant snake summon easily slithered out of its path and the slime splattered onto a stray boulder, melting it like heated candle wax. Manda pressed his advantage by quickly moving behind the giant slug and wrapping his body completely around Katsuuya's squishy form in a constricting squeeze, opening his fanged mouth completely to swallow the slug summon whole.

Gama Bunta interceded Manda's attempt by chopping his Nodachi into the serpent's mouth, but the giant purple snake snapped his jaws shut on the blade in a tight clamp before it could cut him. Despite all the boss of the toad summon's efforts, he couldn't free his weapon.

But then Katsuuyu did something neither summon expected: Like her body was breaking apart into smaller pieces, Katsuyu's one huge body suddenly became hundreds of smaller slugs, each the size of a man that slipped out of Manda's coiled grip as easily as sand through a man's fingers. However, having left Manda's grip, the snake summon's body became unburdened and used his tail to lash at Gama Bunta from above. The toad summon had to abandon his Nodachi and back flip to evade the tail from smashing him into the ground. The crash of Manda's tail sundered the rocky earth and sent up a shower of rock and debris, quaking the earth along with Gama Bunta's thunderous landing. The landscape was quickly turning into a field of rubble.

Manda whipped his head around and, taking aim, launched Gama Bunta's Nodachi back at him like a spear. Had Gama Bunta not jumped sideways to evade the flying blade, he would've been impaled, and his weapon embedded into the rocky ground on impact before once again landing on his feet just as Katsuuyu's mass of smaller Dopplegangers began to come together and merge back into one huge body.

Jiraiya cursed, kneeling atop Gama Bunta's head to keep himself from losing his footing. Everywhere he looked was chaos: Choking clouds of dust and sand, a rainfall of rock and earth debris, the chunks of earth uprooted by the combat of the fierce fighting beast. Add it all together and he knew even after an unsuccessful scan that finding either the whereabouts or condition of Naruto, Shizune, or the smaller frog summons was all but impossible. But he couldn't stray his attention away from the fight for any longer than he had already. He had to fight.

"Boss! Gimme' some oil!" Jiraiya yelled over the deafening sounds around them, his hands weaving signs frantically

Gama Bunta grunted an affirmative, puffed his rubbery cheeks and spat out a streaming jet of black-brown oil toward Manda, followed by Jiraiya's shout "Katon: Gamayuu Endan!" as he spewed out a stream of fire from his mouth, igniting the giant toad's oil as it shot toward the purple snake.

Like a giant firestorm easily large enough to engulf an entire village, the cloud of flames swirled, crackled, burned everything around it. The shadow of Manda's body, just a silhouette inside the raging storm of fire, melted and charred, filling the air with scent of burning flesh.

Except Jiraiya's trained eye saw through the illusion. It wasn't Manda burning inside the blazing inferno; it was his his shedded skin. _'Scaly bastard must've substituted himself with his molted skin before the blaze struck.'_

Suddenly from underground, an uplifting fissure snaked toward Gama Bunta and exploded outward in a shrapnel of stone. By reflex, Gama Bunta managed to catch what had been sent to attack him, only to find it was the tip of Manda's tail. The boss toad turned around just in time to see the same serpent's head thrust from the earth and opened his fanged jaws impossibly gaping wide, ready to devour Gama Bunta whole with his long fangs gleaming like polished swords.

A kunai shot from out of the dust cloud, piercing into Manda's yellow eye before it exploded into a spray of yoke-like gore, stopping the serpent from lunging at Gama Bunta and instead screeched with agony, tossing his horned head around by the pain of his new injury. The kunai must have had an explosive tag tied to it.

A second later, Gama Kudo shot out from the dust cloud on the opposite side of Manda' head, legs outstretched from his powerful leap, and slashed out the giant serpent's left remaining eye with his sword in a quick cross-cut, effectively blinding the snake summon as the eye-fluid spilled from the ruptured membrane like a gel capsule.

Hardly believing his luck, Jiraiya turned to where the kunai came from and sighted Naruto beside Shizune with Gama Fuwa'ashi perched on the orange-clad Genin's shoulder with his sword drawn. _'Never thought I'd feel happy to have that brat with me at a time like this. I owe ya one, brat.'_

A flicker of movement at the peripheral edge of his vision drew his attention upward, and suddenly Gama Bunta's Nodachi dropped from the sky and impaled the giant Serpent Boss summon through his head, pinning him to the earth. The blade sank completely to the hilt through the skull and rock, killing the serpent instantly. Perched atop the hilt of Gama Bunta's Nodachi was Tsunade herself, having been the one who must have used her chakra-augmented strength to throw the giant weapon. Manda's lifeless body twitched in nervous spasms and jerky movements.

Neither Jiraiya or Tsunade had time to praise their sudden advantage when Orochimaru, still perched atop Manda's head, shot his whip-like tongue out from his gullet, extending over thirty feet, and snapped tight around the busty Slug Sennin's throat in an attempt to strangle her. But before he could get any leverage on her, Tsunade took the Snake Sennin's tongue and, like a fisherman reeling in his prized, yanked Orochimaru strait off his feet and into the air directly toward Tsunade's fist. The cracking strike of Tsunade's punch broke the Nukenin's jaw and he hurriedly disengaged his tongue from Tsunade's throat before retreating back from Manda's lifeless body.

Waiting on the ground was Kabuto, still kneeling as his severely weakened body had no more strength to support itself. Orochimaru hopped unsteadily toward his servant, still adjusting to his balance since his one eye had to overcompensate and, in effect, removing his depth perception. It wasn't until he landed on his feet beside the gray-haired Medic-nin that he turned around to face Tsunade and Jiraiya one last time. The sight that greeted them gave both Sennins' pause.

The skin around his face, particularly around the empty eye socket where his left eye had been ripped out, was flaked away, revealing smoother skin beneath it as though he were wearing a mask. His left cheek was swollen and discolored from having been shattered by Tsunade's punch, his nose crooked by Naruto's blow, and his jaw drooped at one side, also broken by Tsunade's most recent punch. Despite the obvious beating he had taken for the past ten minutes, the only signs of fatigue he showed was his heavy breathing. His right eye (his last one) still bared a sharp look like the eye of a sadistic demon.

Out of the blue, Orochimaru started laughing. "This isn't the last you'll see of me; I promise you. I will exact my revenge and crush Konoha to dust. I will slaughter everyone in your pathetic village." He turned his one eye toward the Slug Sennin. "And Tsunade. Don't think you were my only option to restore my arms. I will regain all my strength, and when I do, I swear you will be the last to die to witness everything you've ever fought, killed, and lived for be removed from this world before your eyes. Then I'll have the personal satisfaction of killing you myself."

While Tsunade puzzled over the spectical of Orochimaru's mask, Jiraiya understood clearly that his ex-comrade had succeeded in developing his body-switch Ninjutsu. _'I knew something didn't feel right when I fought him before. He must've switched his soul into another body before he left Konoha.'_

* * *

Nearly twenty yards behind Tsunade and Jiraiya, Naruto barely heard the Snake Sennin spout on about his vengeful plans. Although his injuries were all healed, his adrenalin was slowing to a stop, just as exhaustion was finally setting in on him. His legs buckled beneath him, knees scraping the hard dirt as his breathing grew heavier and sweat began pumping from his skin. A glance to his right revealed Shizune was in a similar state of exhaustion, barely managing to stand upright. Their fatigue was finally catching up to them.

_'I gotta attack while the snake-bastard is distracted', _Naruto thought, frantically rummaging through his weapon pouches to find a kunai. He had none left. _'Dammit! I'll be damned if both Kabuto and Orochimaru escape! Where's another kunai?'_

A glimmer of reflected light sparkled in the corner of his eye, drawing his attention. The same kunai with the fake explosive tag he'd used against Kabuto earlier had been kicked up during the two serpent summons' first attack with the debris. Only fifteen feet away. He glanced back at the group, trying to determine when to go into motion.

In what must have been only a minute that seemed to last hours, Orochimaru and Kabuto were just about to retreat, the demon vessel knew his chance now.

With an explosive burst of speed, Naruto sprinted after his fallen kunai, dived into a roll while simultaneously closing his fingers around his prize. He rode the momentum of his leap onto his feet, turned, and drew his arm back for a throw. Unconsciously, he channeled his chakra energy through his hand into the throwing knife as he would with the Rasengan, and spun the energy inside the kunai just as he launched the knife toward its mark with all his available strength.

The kunai flew like a cross-bow bolt. Sailing past the surprised faces of Tsunade and Jiraiya, the kunai shot toward the two Nukenins. When Kabuto realized the kunai was targeting him, he twisted aside-

-A second too late. His head snapped back as the kunai pierced into his forehead, embedding through the skull and into brain, killing him instantly. He fell backward with a dull _thump _onto his back. The cloud of chakra he'd been emitting that would teleport him to safety all but dispersed into nothingness, clinging to him and leaving a smoky trail of his backward descent.

No one moved. For the longest time, stuck as if in a stand-still, the Three Great Sennin stared at the unmoving body of Kabuto. Then Orochimaru leveled the malevolent glare Naruto had ever seen at him, a single expression that revealed every ounce of his fury.

"How dare you..." He hissed menacingly, narrowing his one eye in rage. "You'll pay for that, demon brat. I think I'll kill you first once I regain my arms." The ground under Orochimaru's feet suddenly uplifted, cracking, and he began to slowly sink into the earth like quicksand. "But for today, I must retreat and heal my wounds you gave me. But don't get comfortable; I'll personally see to killing you myself...as slowly and painfully as possible."

If anything, Orochimaru's threat only amused Naruto. His mouth broke out into a face-splitting grin, but his one eye issued a threat in itself. He held up the eye he took from the Snake Sennin, pinching it between his forefingers and thumb. "You know what they say, Orochimaru. 'An eye for an eye'. You took my eye, I took yours. You killed Saru-jiji, I killed your henchman. A fair trade, isn't it?

"Of course," the Jinchuuriki continued, "I still have to pay you back for killing me. That attack you used to attack Obaa-chan speared your sword through my heart. I thought for sure I was dead when I felt my heart stop beating, but I guess I'm pretty damn hard to kill completely." He clenched his fist, barely holding back from crushing the yellow, sharp-slitted eye. "Don't think this is the last time you'll see me, snake-bastard. The next time we meet, I promise you, I'll take everything else from you. I won't even spare your soul."

Orochimaru sneered contemptuously, half his body already burried under the ground to make his escape. "You make a promise you can't keep."

It was Naruto's turn to sneer, pocketing the Snake Sennin's eye. "I've never made a promise more easily kept. Skulk back into whatever hole you hide yourself in, snake. I'll take your life soon enough." He narrowed his gaze, sharp as a razor, into Orochimaru's eye as his body sank deeper into the earth. "And unlike you, I don't threaten; I only promise."

With a final rock-grating rumble, Orochimaru was gone. Neither of the two Sennins bothered to follow. Jiraiya had a broken leg and several fractured ribs, along with his chakra acting erratically. And Tsunade was too drained to even stand after all the Medic Ninjutsu she'd used in one day. She and the Toad Sennin would need time to recover.

Naruto walked past them, a slight limp in his step as his exhaustion was sinking into his bones and weary muscles. He stopped at the sprawled, spread-eagle body of Kabuto, the kunai still stuck inside his forehead. The eyes of the dead body stared blankly up at nothing, glassy, unfocused.

It felt strange standing there in front of the body of the one that so easily befriended him during the Chuunin Exams, earning his trust, only to suddenly find him a traitorous spy working for the most hated man Naruto ever knew and the enemy of his home village. He supposed he should be more angry at himself for falling so easily for Yakushi Kabuto's charade, entrusting him with his life during the second stage of the Chuunin Exam back in the Forest of Death, within the borders of Konoha.

But all he felt was a vindictive satisfaction. Despite the guilt he knew he should feel for taking someone's life for the first time as a shinobi, he had to admit to himself, it felt good taking his life by his own hands. A series of _thumps_ from behind announced one the frog summons approaching. Gama Fuwa'ashi hopped to his side, holding out his Katana by the blade and offering the blond Genin the sword hilt. Naruto hesitated for only a second before grasping the frog summon's weapon hilt. He held it one hand, extended fully to rest the blade tip beside Kabuto's head, gauging the reach with his depth perception removed along with his left eye. He brought the blade up in a two handed grip over his head and brought it down in cross-cut at Kabuto's neck. If anything, he could get the reward money for Kabuto's bounty.

The head flipped away, bouncing atop the rocky soil as blood pumped sluggishly from the stump of the neck. He wiped the blade on Kabuto's black shirt, removing the blood before handing the smaller frog summon back his sword, fished his hand inside his rear pouch, and pulled out his last explosive tag. He ignited the paper slip with a spark of chakra, bringing forth a small flame at the corner of the note before dropping it onto Kabuto's body, drifting down like a leaf. He turned away to retreive the dead Medic-nin's head.

An explosion blasted behind him, turning the still air into a sudden gale that whipped at his clothes and blood-stained hair, settling into a roar of blazing fire. It lasted only a few seconds, but all that remained of Kabuto's body were ashes. He stopped at Kabuto's head and picked it up, wrenching out the kunai from the skull with a crunch.

He glanced at the kunai in his hand, feeling some tiny depressions along the knife handle. Suddenly he remembered this same kunai being what the Demon of Hidden Mist, Zabuza, had used to cut off the head of Gatou. Naruto remembered giving the Nukenin the kunai after Gatou betrayed him to renegades for profit, during team 7's mission to guard the bridge builder, Tazuna; the target for the Nukenin. The blond shinobi found it ironic that the same kunai Zabuza used to kill Gatou, he himself used to take the life of Kabuto.

It was also ironic that, had Kabuto managed to keep his Hitai-ate, Naruto's kunai might not have penitrated into his skull and killed him.

The blond Genin felt the eyes of everyone present on him, watching, waiting. On a sudden impulse, perhaps from the satisfying experience as with Orochimaru, Naruto jammed his forefingers inside the eye socket and ripped out Kabuto's right eye, snapping it off the optical nerves and muscles. He pocketed his new prize with the eye he took from Orochimaru. Maybe he could wear his new trophies on a necklace.

An overwhelming sense of exhaustion overcame him, making him drop Kabuto's head uncerimoniously to the ground, but offered no resistance as exhaustion made him collapse face-first into the hard-packed dirt as his vision darkened, sweeping him away into oblivion.

The last thing he saw was Jiraiya and Tsunade rushing to him as if far away. Strangely, he could have sworn the voluptous Slug Sennin turned into an old woman with wrinkled features, her expression distraught...

* * *

Naruto awoke lying in the same bed in the hotel room Jiraiya had ordered before the whole battle began. The sun light coming in from the window suggested it was early morning, meaning he had been asleep for half a day or more. On his chest was a multi-color-spotted cat named Chuu, the hotel manager's playful pet that Naruto took a liking too the first day meeting the feline. He scratched Chuu behind his ears, earning a purr of approval as it nuzzled his hand.

He turned to his left to find Jiraiya and Tsunade sitting in wooden chairs on the left side of his bed, obviously waiting for him to awake. They had evidently changed and cleaned their clothes after the battle, and Naruto checked himself for a quick moment, finding his orange jumpsuit gone. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and loose brown trousers, and Tsunade's jeweled pendant necklace hanging around his neck. Finding his vision halved, as he remembered Orochimaru's Kusanagi cutting into him all too vividly, Naruto reflexively touched around his left eye, his fingers coming into contact with the rough leather texture of an eye-patch.

He turned back to the two Sennin beside his bed. "How long was I asleep?"

"Nearly a whole day" Jiraiya answered. "Tsunade managed to heal the rest of us after the battle, once we'd gotten back to the hotel." He jerked his thumb toward the door. "Shizune will be back for some extra clothes for ya. I trashed your jumpsuit; it was just tatters and ribbons anyway."

Naruto nodded absently, scanning across the room before his gaze settled on a ragged gray cloth bag on the table near the corner of the room. He turned back to Jiraiya with a raised eyebrow. "Kabuto's head", the Toad Sennin answered bluntly. He dug his hand into his pocket for something and tossed it to the blond Jinchuuriki: a necklace with two sphere-like items on the leather cord. A closer inspection of the two spheres revealed them to be the eyes he took from Orochimaru and Kabuto. He ran his finger over them, finding some kind of plastic film covering them. No doubt some preservation material.

He slipped his new necklace over his head, resting above the jeweled green pendant Tsunade had given him. When he turned back to regard the two Sennins, their expressions were suddenly grave and serious. It was Tsunade that spoke first. "I think you better go look in a mirror. And...take off the eye patch. Alot had happened while you were asleep. You'll see for yourself."

Dread dropped into his gut like a lead weight. Sparing no questions, Naruto shoved off his bed -leaving an irritated Chuu which yeowled in protest to his resting spot- and went into the bathroom. He flicked on the light switch and stared at his reflection in the mirror. His visible eye widened in shock.

His face a mix of boyish roundness and masculin hardness, his cheeks bared his trademark "whisker" birth marks, where three parallel, horizontal scars lines each cheek. Also, his face bore two new scars: A scar line that went from above his left eyebrow and down the span of the left side of his face, past his chin and lips, which fell in line with the scar that went from his collar bone to his right hip. Another scar, much like his former tearcher Iruka's, overlapped the vertical scar, going across the bridge of his nose and upper cheeks. His hair was like the brightest flame, vibrant yellow with streaks of orange and red. His right eye was blue, so deep in color like indigo, it practically merged with the black of his pupil.

Such were not what attracted his attention. His skin tone, once a light tan brown, was now pale as bone like a corpse's. Only someone who'se lost a considerable amount of body heat could turn as white as his skin. He touched his face -still warm- and his confusion grew.

Remembering what Tsunade said about the eye-patch, Naruto brought his hand up and slowly lifted it away.

A sudden feeling of vertigo assaulted his sense of sight, offsetting his visual balance, as though one eye was too powerful for the other to keep up. Waiting for his vision to adjust, all the while wondering how his left eye survived the deadly blade of Orochimaru's Kusanagi, he found his answer.

Staring at him from his reflection, two eyes of different color met his. His right eye blue, the left eye that should have been ruined, was now primal red with a cat-like pupil. The same eye as from the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He heard Tsunade speaking behind him as if from far away.

"Shizune and I tried to find what was causing your skin to pale, but our diagnosis couldn't find anything abnormal. When we were removing your tattered clothes, Shizune inspected the damage done to your eye, to see if we might repair with our Medic Ninjutsu, but instead your eye's just been...replaced, I think. The chakra coils connecting to your red eye are directly linked to the seal." Tsunade paused, staring at Naruto's back facing her. "I'm sorry. There's nothing Shizune could do to change what happened to you. We can't alter the chakra coils around your eye without completely taking it out, nor could we do anything about your scars. The poison that coated the Kusanagi sword, it's made your scars perminant. I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

The blond Genin was hardely paying heed to any of her consoling words. Naruto knew he should feel upset for the demon fox to force on him this unwanted gift. Tying directly to the seal and to the Kyuubi's chakra, the demon vessel knew his new eye wouldn't revert back to blue and hide the demonic orb. The sight of his new eye would only insight the rage of the villagers from Konoha, once he returned. The changes the demon fox had done to him made him feel used, like he was suddenly less than human and just a tool that was just modified for the purposes of a demented demon he lived to hate.

Instead, he smiled.

_'I don't care anymore what I look like'_, Naruto thought to himself, remembering the scorn and hate almost every villager threw his way for reasons beyond his control. _'Let them think what they like. If they've got a problem with it, I'll kill them myself. I'm done being concerned for the mass of trash that litters my home.'_ Hardly caring where this strange pragmatisism was coming from, he brought his hand up and touched his new trophies on his necklace. _'Besides'_, he thought with a wry grin, _'As Ero-Sennin and Doki told me before; the Kyuubi's chakra is just as much my own. He and I are bound no matter what happens. I may as well use his power.'_

Remembering also of his encounter with Doki, he laughed to himself. That was when he had to choose between two evils. Still, better to be half-saved than wholey damned.

Without another thought about this strange developement, Naruto shoved the matter aside, thinking of dealing with it later. He turned back to more pressing concerns, turning to face Jiraiya. "So, Ero-Sennin, when do we leave for Konoha?"

Smothering the tempation to hit the brat over his head for addressing him with that demeaning title, Jiraiya said simply, "We'll be leaving in two days. I just need to visit some of my informants to gather some more information about this group, Akatsuki. You remember them, I hope?"

Naruto nodded. Only ten days ago, two S-class Missing-nin by the names of Hoshigake Kisame and Itachi Uchiha paid him a surprise visit at their hotel room. Itachi Uchiha, also the older brother of Sasuke Uchiha and the murderer of the Uchiha Clan, was infact the clan prodigy and skilled enough to beat down his younger brother with contemptuous ease, as he had done just after Jiraiya had made his appearance to stop the two Nuke-nins from acheiving their primary objective of capturing the Jinchuuriki. Unfortunately, both Missing-nins escaped, leaving Uchiha Sasuke wounded from Itachi's beating and, after Itachi used one of his Genjutsus, leaving Sasuke in a comatose state.

Naruto shook his head, trying to shake away the recollection and the unpleasant feelings of rage that accompanied the memory. Now wasn't the time to dwell on something that couldn't be helped. He looked back to Jiraiya. "Say, Ero-Sen- er, Jiraiya-_sama_, would you be willing to teach me something?"

The Toad Sennin instantly became suspicious upon hearing the endearing addressment the spiky blond shinobi used. "What exactly?"

Naruto grinned, setting back his eye-patch over his left eye. Amazingly, he saw through his right eye well enough as with both eyes. "What can you teach me about seals?"

* * *

Two days later, the troupe was already on trek toward the Village of Konoha, the sun beating down pleasantly warm rays of light onto their backs. Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Naruto and Tonton, the Medic-nin's pet pig, strode through a trail flanked on both sides by wide expanses of forest with evergreen trees. The air was alive with a cocaphony of bird calls and buzzing insects.

Tsunade and Jiraiya took the front lead, conversing quietly about their past and what they'd both been doing since they went their separate ways over a decade ago. As per her agreement, Tsunade accepted enrolling as the new Hokage for Konoha, saying she owed Naruto that much -if not more, she implied- for saving her life several times during the battle and for granting her the chance to move on and make something of her life. Naruto and Shizune followed behind them, about five yards, to give the two Sennin their privacy. Tonton snorted, shuffling his cloven-hoofed feet to match the shinobi's longer strides.

As his jumpsuit was no longer wearable, Naruto wore a different assemble. A fish-net shirt covered his top underneath a boiled-leather armor breast plate, where a gray long-sleeved vest went over the cuirasse. Since his pants hadn't been ruined during the fight, Naruto's once bright-orange trousers were now a dull, burnt-orange. Jiraiya had even taken the liberty of restocking all his weapon gear by purchasing more ningu back in Tanzaku town. Instead of bothering with an eye-patch, Naruto elected just to use his hitai-ate head-band to cover his left eye, much like his current team leader, Hatake Kakashi.

Three hours into their walk however, all four ninja sensed the presence of another shinobi around the area. Instantly all were on high alert, snapping out their prefered weapons or settling with bare fists and readying hand seals for Ninjutsu.

Their assailants leapt from the trees in a blur of motion, landing on their feet with perfect measured balance, kicking up only a minute amount of dust where their feet touched the ground. The group suddenly found themselves facing two of the worst opponents conceivable.

Both men that stood side by side wore ink-black cloaks with scarlet-red clouds, bamboo hats with bells dangling from the rims atop their heads, almost completely concealing their features. Naruto recognized them from their last encounter.

The shorter of the two, easily as tall as Shizune, was Uchiha Itachi. The clan prodigy of the Uchiha family as well as the one who carried out the clan's genocide, the Nukenin was slim of frame but unmistakably more deadly than his appearance led to believe.

His face was the epitome of handsome perfection, with jet-black hair near shoulder-length and two diagonal scar lines ran down from both sides of his nose down to the corners of his mouth. He word his Konoha hitai-ate on his forehead with a horizontal score etched across the leaf symbol. Glowing red eyes that held three floating tomoe in the red iris in a triangular formation flared like hot coals from under the hood of his bamboo hat. The Kekkeigenkai of the Uchiha clan, able to copy Ninjutsu, see through illusions, and even ensnare the mind and soul itself through simple eye-contact:

The Sharingan.

The taller of the two was even larger than Jiraiya. Hoshigake Kisame was like nothing Naruto had ever seen before. While his features were more or less human in a sense, his skin tone was a light bluish-gray, with slits under his shark-like eyes, each on his cheeks like fish gills. Always having a hungry smirk on his face, Naruto saw his teeth were sharp, pointed, and serated, as though he was once a shark that transformed into a man. His dark blue hair stood strait up in ragged spikes, complimented with his Kirigakure head band with a score line slashed across the wave symbols like Itachi's.

Broad shouldered and immensely muscular, Itachi's head barely came up to the Kiri-nin's shoulder. Strapped to his back with a thick leather harness was a giant sword bound and wrapped in binding gauzes with a foot-long handle, which carried the power to absorb chakra with ease. The sword Naruto remembered Kisame calling it Samehada.

Itachi took a step forward, then stopped, staring directly at Naruto. "Don't bother trying to run away. You know why we have come, so it's pointless to fight or flee. Give yourself over to us and the rest of you will be spared."

"Now, why in the world would I do that for a prick like you, Itachi?", Naruto asked with a smirk. "If you want to capture me, why not just make an actual effort instead of trying to coerce me with intimidation? 'Cause if that's your plan, I'm frankly unimpressed."

Kisame grinned, revealing his shark-like teeth. "Like I said before, this kid's interesting. He's got guts." His smirk turned into a predatory grin. "Which I'll enjoy ripping out of his belly."

No sooner had the Kiri-nin finished speaking did Itachi employ his Sharingan's power, ensnaring all whom looked in his eyes within a powerful illusion of the mind. His most powerful technique used the power fo the stronger level of the Sharingan; the Magenkyo Sharingan. The tomoe in his red eyes merged together, forming a three-point wheel like a spinning fan.

The scenery changed around the entire party as the sky turned pitch black and surroundings dulled into total gray. Kisame was absent, as the Kiri-nin hadn't been subjected to Itachi's Genjutsu and thus wasn't pulled into the illusionary dimension of the mind. The four shinobi -Naruto, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune- all appeared as nothing more than two-dimensional images, each seeming less than substantial. They appeared as flat as paper.

At their feet, a ball of flame engulfed them, slowing rising up and turning their paper bodies to ashes. Despite the mental backlash that should follow the illusion, none the Konoha shinobi showed any signs of discomfort. Their expressions ranged from surprised to curious, but showed no fear or pain.

It wasn't until Itachi concentrated his Sharingan to his limits that he perceived the truth: The group trapped in his Genjutsu were only _Kage Bunshins_.

By the time he understood what happened, it was already too late for Itachi to prepare or warn Kisame.

From the tree cover of the forest flanking the worn path, Tsunade leapt out onto the pair with a fist raised, crashing it down into the ground which the Nukenin duo had barely evaded, kicking back on their heels as the Slug Sennin's fist missed them by inches. The ground beneath their feet shattered from the impact of Tsunade's punch, turning the solid ground beneath them into a depressing death-trap of rubble. They jumped out of the rubble pit and onto level ground just as Shizune popped out of the bushes and snapped her needle-slinger at the pair with poisoned needles and senbon, forcing them to separate and evade the Medic-nin's projectiles.

Kisame skidded on his feet to a stop near the tree line just as Naruto jumped from the tree cover above the Kiri-nin, throwing a stream of shuriken and kunai, aiming for Kisame's vitals. Thanks to the sheer size of the Samehada, Kisame employed his great strength to use his sword to swat the tiny projectiles away like flies. Naruto's throwing weapons bounced away like darts hitting an iron wall.

Itachi found himself engaged in combat with the Toad Sennin as Jiraiya used several different Jutsus meant to ensnare the Uchiha renegade's feet in some pit of mud or tar, or break his footing by turning the ground into sand or jumbled rock with earth-grating rumbles and cracks. All the while Jiraiya remained blindfolded with his horned head-band, using sound alone to guide his attacks while keeping the Uchiha from ensnaring him in any illusions through eye-contact. Itachi settled for using his shuriken, kunai and Katon Jutsus.

Tiring of swatting away the Jinchuuriki's ningu, Kisame decided to take the initiative and ran full speed to his intended target, his Samehada raised for a crushing overhead stroke. Naruto had to jump aside to avoid the weapon before it smashed the spot where he previously occupied, burying nearly a foot into the hard dirt. He rolled the momentum to his feet and sprang backward as Kisame instantly gave chase with Samehada poised for another strike. Naruto shoved his hand into his rear pouch and pulled out two kunais. Gripping each in one hand, he threw them in opposite directions, embedding them deeply into the solid bark of the trees to his sides.

Predictably, Kisame brought down his Samehada on the airborne Genin, but before his weapon even came hitting its intended target, the Kiri-nin felt a sudden resistance in his swing before his sword stopped still in mid-air, several feet away from even touching Naruto. After getting a closer inspection, Kisame cursed. His Samehada had hit a length of garrote wire fastened between the two kunai Naruto had thrown just seconds earlier, stopping his weapon.

Worst, the back-curved, teeth-like blades of Samehada were hooked onto the wire, entangling it. He couldn't pull his weapon free without proper leverage.

Kisame's momentary distraction cost him dearly. The Kiri-nin had only a second to look back on Naruto before the blond Jinchuuriki pulled out a scroll bound with rope, cutting off the bindings with a knife and unfurling it with a snap, dragging a line of blood across the paper with his thumb.

Whether it was instinct or perhaps an ability to sense the power contained inside the scroll, Itachi nonetheless broke off his melee with Jiraiya and went into a fast sprint, shouting, "Kisame! Get away from the brat, NOW!". Despite Kisame's effort to make a hasty retreat, sensing the danger from Itachi's tone of voice, it was too late for the Kiri-nin.

Bringing the rolled up scroll between his folded hands that finished their sign weaves, Naruto growled "Kai!" and the scroll combusted into a ball of black and violet fire, swelling in size before surging like a blazing missile toward Kisame. The Kiri-nin abandoned his Samehada, desperate to escape the reach of Amaterasu flame, but still his arm became enveloped in the jet-black blaze, turning his robe sleeve and arm completely into ashes. Kisame screamed in pain, ripping off the burning remnants of his sleeve to keep the black fire away from destroying any more of his flesh, revealing the blackened stump of his right arm.

Kisame's momentary distraction earned him a vicious punch in his kidney from Tsunade, propelling the Kiri-nin nearly ten yards in the direction of the Katsuuyu Sennin's near back-breaking blow. He righted himself with a grunt of pain and skidded to a halt, mentally calling his Samehada back to his hand after snapping itself free from the garrote wires. Itachi landed beside him a second later, sizing up the group before them.

"That was your Amatarasu flame, wasn't it Itachi?" Kisame muttered to his partner, hissing in pain from the flare of agony burning on the stump of his right arm. "The same flame ya used to escape that Toad Sennin's Jutsu back at the hotel?"

"Jiraiya-san must have sealed my flame away in that scroll and gave it to Naruto-kun before they attacked us. " Itachi's voice carried a note of impressment. "Naruto-kun actually made some of his _Kage Bunshins_ Henge into the whole group itself to serve as a distraction while the real bodies kept hidden in the forest. They must have been expecting us."

"So what now? Our surprise attack is gone, and I'm injured badly; both from the Amazon bitch's punch and the brat's scroll. My arm's gone now."

Hearing no response forthcoming, Kisame glanced down at Itachi, whom was staring in direct eye contact with Naruto. Oddly, the blond Jinchuuriki showed no signs of effect from any of Itachi's Genjutsus the Uchiha Nukenin would otherwise be employing upon making eye contact. Strangest of all, Naruto's expression showed only a grin. Kisame involuntarily shivered from the look in his eye.

After several tense moments, seeing that none of the Konoha-nins were going to attack again -yet- , Itachi leapt away into the depths of the forest, followed closely by Kisame. By the time the pain in Kisame's ruined stump abated to bearable levels, the Nukenin duo left the Konoha shinobi nearly three miles behind. Kisame found it very unerving that Itachi didn't say a word throughout that time, especially with seeing their target unaffected by the Uchiha's Genjutsus. It was unfathomable that anyone could endure any one of his illusionary technique, minor or powerful. The silence stretched, filling the Kiri-nin with a growing sense of unease.

"Itachi?" Kisame called over the roar of the rushing air.

At first glance, it appeared the Uchiha hadn't heard his partner, but when Kisame was going to try again, Itachi spoke. "I couldn't ensnare his mind with any of my Genjutsus."

"...What?!" The revelation nearly made the Kiri-nin stumble in mid-air as they vaulted off the ground once more, going air-borne over the tree canopy and covering more distance.

"When the Kyuubi vessel locked gazes with me, I tried to subdue his mind by using every Genjutsu available without taxing my chakra reserves. However, after none of my conventional techniques worked, I tried using my Magenkyo Sharingan instead...But none of them worked on him. It was like he wasn't even in front of me. His mind was either barricaded by a powerful defense...or, as I experienced, it was void of everything. Just a cold, dark emptiness."

"So what does that mean for capturing him?"

Itachi considered Kisame's question carefully, weighing their options. "We must report this new development to our master. You and I may have just become ill-suited to capturing the Kyuubi vessel. We'll most likely be given a different assignment."

Kisame grimaced in private humility. "Great," he muttered, "Now we gotta leave what was our job to someone else." The Kiri-nin glanced down at the stump of his arm and turned blood-thirsty livid. "Whoever captures the brat better bring him back unharmed. I gotta pay him back personally for my arm. With interest."

* * *

Their entrance into Konoha was at least less dramatic than their encounter with Itachi and Kisame on the road. After another day of travel -by leaping jumps and leisurely walks- Jiraiya and party finally made it to their home village, deciding to use a little discretion to meet privately with the village elders and assign Tsunade as the Godaime of Konohagakure. A few documents and word-spoken pledges later, Tsunade was now the leading authority in the village.

Konoha itself was a massive, expansive city, housing between ten to fifteen thousand citizens, villagers and shinobi alike. The layout of the village itself was shaped like an unfolded fan, where four quadrants or sectors of the city were separated by wide avenues, three levels to each quadrant that tapered to the base of the village itself, The Hokage Monument; a cliff-face with the giant busts of all the previous village leaders of Konoha's history. Before, during the Shodaime's reign, all the buildings were once made entirely of chakra-shapen trees that made the base structure for which the village of today had built upon with steel and mortar, expanding its reach all the way to the vast forest surrounding the village itself. Such was how the village earned its name.

Having entered the village gates earlier, Naruto noticed that few -if any- of the villagers actually recognized him, though many didn't hide their interest on seeing someone so terribly scarred. No one could even guess who he was due to having pulled the cloth of his head-band completely over his scalp, covering his bright blond hair. No one glared, sneered, stared contemptuously at him as Naruto was familiar with. He found it both a relief to not endure the villager's harsh glares, but also vexing that he had to avoid their hate by his change of appearance. He idly fingered his holstered kunai at his thigh, watching them pass him by. He grinned when he saw passersby flinch from his radiated killer-intent. It served them right.

With Shizune already hard at work in the hospital to tend to patients from the attack by Oto and Suna during the Chuunin Exams, Naruto and Jiraiya followed behind Tsunade as they made their way through the corridors of the Hokage Tower toward her private office. On their way there, they bumped into none other than Nara Shikamaru and what could only be his father.

The Nara boy was the same age as Naruto, whom had a lean frame with pitch-black hair tied back atop his head, looking like a paint brush. His eyes were narrow, squinty, and his face was almost always in either a pout or grimace. Never without a comment of how everything that requires effort with a "How troublesome" remark, his intelligence far exceeded his outward demeanor and appearance, where he could strategize in even the worst conditions, as he demonstrated during his match in the Chuunin Exam Finals. He wore a wire-mesh shirt under a green-hemmed gray vest and black ninja trousers.

His father, whom Tsunade call him Shikaku, was like an older version of Shikamaru himself, except for the ragged scars on his left temple and cheek, the goatee on his chin, and the green flack-vest he wore over his wire-mesh shirt.

Upon seeing Naruto as well as his new clothing, Shikamaru drew up short, staring wide-eyed and somehow recognizing him. His father had done the same, except his gaze was on Tsunade. Not in the sense of attractive interest, but more along respectful admiration. Of course, for Shikamaru's case, he seemed more surprised by his garish scars he acquired. Although part of his surprise might be from also his ghostly skin tone.

"Geez, Naruto", Shikamaru muttered, "What the hell happened to you? Your face is a mess of scars, you're white as a ghost, and you lost an eye. I swear I mistook you for Ibiki-san. And what happened to your jumpsuit?"

"Long story. Better if I tell you when everyone's together so I won't have to repeat it. So, where are you going?" Naruto glanced down the hallway where Shikamaru and his father were headed. "The only room down there is for registration. Something happen?"

Shikamaru grinned, though it seemed a little forced. "Just have to settle some troublesome business with my dad here. Nothing I hope that won't take very long."

After Tsunade waved goodbye to the Naras, the troupe went straight for the Konoha Hospital. The building was square with a stale white interior of tiled floors and mortar walls, nearly fifty rooms on each of its four floor levels. The place smelt of antiseptics, medicine, alcohol, and ammonia. The air they breathed was throat-stripping dry. Nurses, doctors, recently released patients thronged the hallways in some places, empty of activity in others. Most of the patients were shinobi whom had suffered the worst injuries from the Sound and Sand invasion during the Chuunin Exams, though many were on their way to recovering. The same couldn't be said for the unfortunate ones that never even made it to the hospital during the initial attack.

"Tell me Jiraiya", Tsunade said after a time of silence, "which patients needed my help again?"

"I told you before we left Tanzaku. It's Kakashi; Uchiha Sasuke; and Gai's pupil, Lee."

Having heard whom needed her immediate help, Tsunade went straight toward Sasuke's ward room. Naruto knew without a doubt that Haruno Sakura, the female teammate of Team 7, would be waiting there beside Sasuke's bed when he woke up. For some reason, he felt no pang of jealousy or anger because of it -having once vied for Sakura's attention for the better part of a year, after all- which left him perplexed. As far as he remembered during his team match-ups, Sakura had always been his source of interest even when she outright didn't care for him, even thought him annoying when she herself vied for the Uchiha survivor's attention. As much as he knew the feeling of jealousy always filling his gut when around Sasuke, now he didn't care.

_'Then again, I'm not the same person as I was back then anymore, am I?'_

The truth of that statement stabbed him harder than anticipated, making him wince. He _had_ changed: Not just in the sense of his appearance, battle-scarred as he was now, but also of his change of mind. Naruto didn't doubt that part of that mental alteration was due to Doki's fusion with his psyche, lending him the cold hard intellect of a natural-born killer whose sole ideal was pragmaticism.

But maybe that's what becoming a true shinobi was like: killing your past where you only lived in the present and awaited an uncertain future. The reality of that made Naruto shudder.

Seeing no reason to visit his teammates, Naruto wandered around the hallways, glancing into open rooms while Jiraiya went someplace else to kill time. Most likely he was already at the women's hot springs, peeping in on them bathing for his so-called "research purposes" and "inspiration" for his perverted reading books: the Icha Icha Paradise novels. The thought annoyed Naruto that the pervert acted so shamelessly.

Naruto stopped as he passed by another recovery room when he saw a dark-haired nurse striding out of the room with dirty towels in her arms. Naruto recognized her as Rock Lee's nurse. But this wasn't Lee's ward. So _who_ was she tending to?

Curious, Naruto stepped into the room. The curtain was pulled open to allow the light into the room through the window. The glare of the sun light reflecting off the smooth white-tiled floor made him wince. A vase of flowers sat on the patient's bed-stand. Several machines were connected to the bed patient with tubes, wires, cables as well as paper seal-wards were plastered all across the bed frame and the bedding.

At first glance, Naruto started. _'What's Sasuke doing in here? Wasn't he in the west hospital wing?',_ But then his eyes discerned several minute details. While his face resembled very much like Sasuke's, his hair was ragged, dark brown, almost as black as Sasuke's but too short for the Uchiha's hair style. A garish vertical furrow of a scar ran down the right side of his face across his eye, down cheek and past his jaw line. For some reason beyond his knowledge, Naruto thought he looked familiar, but couldn't remember from where.

A flicker of reflected light shined into his eye from his right, drawing him to face the source. A pile of ragged clothes -once white and camouflage-colored now either faded dull or smudged dirty and tattered- were folded under some kind of metallic device like a giant gauntlet. A closer inspection revealed several holes on one side of the device. A heap of bloody gauzes -most of them ripped and just tattered ribbons- rested beside the pile of clothes.

Naruto peiced together the clues in three heartbeats. When he did, he finally remembered. He turned and stared at the patient with wide eyes.

Careful not to make any noise, Naruto turned back and left Dosu Kinuta's recovery room.

* * *

After Tsunade tended to Naruto's sensei, Kakashi, as well as Sasuke with some chakra rejuvination techniques to heal their minds after suffering from the after-effects of Itachi's Magenkyo Sharingan, Naruto was called into the Hokage's office where the Slug Sennin sat waiting behind her new desk, which was littered with scrolls and stacks of unsigned papers. When Naruto arrived, Shikamaru was already waiting there with his hands in his pockets, obviously bored.

Naruto looked around the room with a sweeping glance before standing strait at attention. "What is it you need of me, Hokage-sama?"

Using such respectful endearments when addressing someone was unfamiliar to the blond Genin, but thought it prudent considering he was now serving a new village leader. Respectful formality was not optional; it was mandatory.

Tsunade nodded with approval, pleased with Naruto's use of addressment before saying, "I'm glad you both found time to answer my summons, since I have something that might be of interest to you both. Just before healing the patients that needed me this afternoon, the council members and I had a meeting discussing about the Chuunin Exam applicants and finalists. Due to the fact that the Chuunin Exam had been interrupted, all the senseis of the Chuunin Exam applicant finalists were called together to give an evaluated report, with their honest opinion through their expert observations, of all the Genins during their combat."

"What for?" Shikamaru asked with a hint of annoyance. "Why would the council care how someone fared during the Chuunin Exam preliminaries and finals considering it was canceled before all the applicants could even show their skills to the potential clients? Sound and Sand's surprise attack interrupted the tournament before it could finish."

"Because the Council, as well as myself, deemed it necessary to promote the most qualified of the Genins that made it to the Chuunin Exam Finals to the rank of Chuunin."

The silence was so sudden, Naruto thought he heard a cricket chirp somewhere. Shikamaru looked like he, too, would keel over with surprise. "Shikamaru and I are being promoted to Chuunin?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade nodded. "After careful and considerate evaluation, since the attack on the village had left quite of few shinobi either dead or unable to continue pursuing such demanding errands, it was in the best interests to select the best qualified among the Genins to fill the vacancies in our forces."

"Why just Naruto and me?" Shikamaru asked, "Weren't there any others that met requirement?"

"You and Naruto here happened to be among the few that actually showed strategy during your match-ups, proving that both of you show a skill with improvisation and strategizing while on the battlefield. Some among the Council and Squad Jounin, namely Kakashi, tried to encourage having Uchiha Sasuke being promoted, but the only thing he showed during his match-ups was just a show of brute force and little strategy, despite the praise of skill he showed in his fights.

"But Konoha can't afford to have Chuunin that just know how to fight; we need shinobi capable to plan and improvise on the field when on missions. Leaders that know how to lead shinobi into battle and weigh the risks. Now as for the others, that remains to be seen, but you two are the only Genin of Konoha that will be promoted Chuunin rank."

The busty blond woman reached under her desk and tossed Naruto and Shikamaru green Chuunin flak-vests with scroll-pockets on the front. The two newly-promoted Chuunins caught the vests easily, but stared at them with dumbfounded expressions. For Shikamaru, this meant he was now required to go out onto the field, risking his life for missions. Naruto, however, was very pleased he had outperformed Sasuke at something so substantial; being teamed with the Genin of the year and having him earn more credit than he deserved was a refreshing change and improvement.

After slipping on his Chuunin vest, Naruto rummaged through the pockets and felt some paper in his left pocket. He pulled it out and found a neat stack of money. He did a rough count of about 100,000 ryo. The amount made his eyes widen, such as with Shikamaru.

"That's the reward money for Kabuto's head. Jiraiya delivered it just an hour ago and asked me to give it to you since he had to run an 'errand' or something." Despite the light tone of Tsunade's voice, Naruto knew she suspected, as he did himself, that the only "errand" Jiraiya was likely doing was "gathering research." Sometimes he wondered how people could put up with the man's perverted habits.

Shikamaru turned to Naruto. "Is she talking about the same Kabuto from the exam?" When Naruto nodded, Shikamaru's once-bored expression became both demanding and eager. "Once this business is done, you've got some explaining to do."

"Fine. But let's wait for Teams 10, 8, and Gai before anything else, alright?"

Shikamaru nodded, though he was visibly impatient to hear what transpired. "Are we free to go then, Hokage-sama?"

"You may be dismissed, Nara. Uzumaki and I have something to discuss before he leaves. You may go."

Reluctantly, eager to hear Naruto's story, Shikamaru bowed and walked out the office, closing the door behind him. "So, what did you need, Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked upon Shikamaru's departure.

Tsunade didn't say much at first, but she reached again for something from her desk and tossed the blond Chuunin a dark-green pouch case, catching it in one hand and opening it to find several scrolls fitted inside it with some kunais shaped like none Naruto had seen before. He pulled one out and inspected it.

The handle of the knife was longer than an average kunai, with the blade three-pointed and shaped like a reverse-arrow, center blade longer than the two flanking blades and a hilt-ring at the butt of the knife. Naruto did a quick inventory of one of the scrolls in the pouch, each devoted to instructing methods of sealing and making different forms of Ninjutsu.

"Jiraiya asked me to give these scrolls to you", Tsunade remarked after Naruto put away the roll of parchment. "Be careful with them, because those are Jiraiya's personal scrolls which he made himself years ago. The kunais are an additional gift, so use them how you can.

"But let me make one thing perfectly clear, Uzumaki: Do not, under any circumstances, fool around with the seals and go half-hazardly experimenting with them until you've read every one of those scrolls again and again until you can devote it to memory and not cause a major catastrophe. The knowledge in those scroll are not to be used for petty amusement; they are dangerous weapons in themselves. Do I make myself clear?"

Sensing the hostility and dead-seriousness in Tsunade's tone, Naruto nodded while carefully fastening the scroll pouch to his belt below his back. "I understand completely, Hokage-sama."

Satisfied, Tsunade went back to signing the documents litering her desk. "Then you're dismissed."

To be continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes-**

Jutsus used in chapter:

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Doppleganger/Clone)-_A Jounin-level technique; user creates a solid double of him/herself by using their chakra to shape the body and gives the look-alike construct their own free will. Each Doppleganger is able to even act either independently or follow mental commands given to them by their mind-link with the main body. Drawback is that the technique requires one to either split his chakra evenly between himself and all the Dopplegangers he/she creates, but with every Doppleganger destroyed, the main body receives knowledge gained by the construct. Each single clone can do any Jutsu the main body can, given the amount of chakra used to conjure it.

_Kuchyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)-_A high-level technique where one can bring forth an animal partner to aid them in battle, escape, espionage, etc. Technique requires one signing a contract on a summoning scroll in order to conjure an animal summon. Jutsu requires also an enourmous amount of chakra to summon any significantly powerful, large, or mature summoning beast.

_Katon: Gamayuu Endan (Fire form: Toad Oil Blaze)-_ A combination technique between Jiraiya and Gama Bunta. Jiraiya blasts a stream of fire into Gama Bunta's jet of spat oil from his natural reservoir inside his stomach. The result is a giant fire storm able to destroy and incinerate anything within a area equivalent to a small town or village's size.

_Magenkyo Sharingan (Kaleidoscope Windmill-eye)-_ A genkaikekkei technique only an Uchiha with the Sharingan can use. The user of this technique must first advance the stage of his own Sharingan before he/she can use it, but should they be able to, the illusionary powers of this technique can conjure illusions where time and space can be controlled within the space of the victim's mind, bind them in an ever-lasting illusion, and predict all manner of movements through a single glance. Drawback of this technique is that it drains the user of chakra quickly.

_Rasengan (Spiral-sphere)-_ An A-class technique where one gathers chakra to their hand, spins the chakra, then compresses the energy into a sphere of swirling blue energy no larger than a fist, but with the power of a hurricane. Requires a massive amount of chakra to maintain and create, but requires no hand-seals. One of the Yondaime's original techniques.

_Souzou Saisei no Jutsu (Creation Rebirth Technique)-_ A forbidden technique used by Tsunade. Through storing a great amount of chakra into her forehead, a "reservoire" diamond forms on her brow. Upon releasing the pent-up energy, the cells of the body undergo an accelerated regeneration process, replacing all damaged cells, even to the extent of replacing limbs, body parts, even complex internal organs. The drawback on this technique is that it greatly shortens the lifespan of the initiator, as the body has a predetermined life span, as does every cell has a limit to divide itself.

Translations:

Amaterasu- Japanese Sun Goddess

Ero-Sennin- Pervert Sage (Jiraiya's nickname)

Gama Fuwa'ashi- Toad Lightfoot

Gama Kudo- Toad Mountain

Godaime- Fifth Lord

Henge- Transform

Hokage- Fire Shadow

Kekkei genkai- Bloodline limit

Kusanagi- Grasscutter (Orochimaru's katana)

Kyuubi no Kitsune- Fox of Ninetails

Konohagakure no Sato - Village of Hidden Leaf

Jinchuuriki- Tailed Beast-human Sacrifice/Demon Vessel

Nukenin- _lit._ Missing-nin/Rogue ninja

Ningu- Ninja tools/weapons

Oto- Sound

Samehada- Sharkskin (Kisame's giant sword)

Sharingan- Windmill-eye

Sennin- Hermit/Sage/Wizard

Shodaime- First Lord

Tomoe- a comma design


	3. Ch 03: Unexpected Alliances

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be typing this fanfic here, now would I?**

**Ch.03:**

_Pain._

_The affliction that effects both our flesh, our souls, our emotions._

_Pain is just a response. If you're skin, bones, muscles, or organs get harmed, you feel it as an unpleasant sensation. All beings have suffered such in their lifetimes at some point or other, as pain is a part of life itself. Without pain, there's no pleasure. Opposites providing balance. It is from experiencing pain itself that you learn to adapt to it, bear it, live with it, and grow stronger because of it. Pain makes people stronger, but only if they learn not to fear it._

_Pain is also a memory. You learn from pain lessons that never leave you, no matter how far you try to push them in the back of your mind. Sometimes the scars they leave can heal over night. Others -like mine- never heal at all. I've had my fair share of experiencing pain on several different -and agonizing- levels._

_I've lived with pain like a leash around my throat for the better part of my whole life, as far back as I can remember. The pain of loneliness, of having no friends or companions, or the hate I've had to live with like a poison that kills me slowly from the inside. The pain from the many wounds I suffered during combat, even the wounds in my pride when I failed to reach my own expectations, when I failed where others succeeded. Bitterness and disappointment leave an emptiness in my soul; the agony that never seems to fade._

_But if there's one thing I've learned from pain, it's the universal truth I've embraced wholeheartedly: If I can still feel pain, then I'm still alive. I can still at least feel. __Only the soulless don't feel anything, numb to the world around them, condemned to live in their own purgatory by their own despair._

_If pain is all I have left to feel anything, I welcome it with open arms._

_Because I've grown strong with pain. I've endured where others have given up. _

_I'm still alive because I can still feel._

From the memoirs of Naruto Uzumaki

**Unexpected Alliance**

A giant cavern strewn with stalagmites and stalactites expanded nearly a mile in diameter, and nearly one hundred meters from floor to ceiling. Darkness pervaded the cave like a living shroud while the squeaks of bats, flaps of wings, clicks from insects, pads of footfalls, and drips of water plinking from the stalactites dribbled water into still pools dotting the cavern floor, echoed traitorously.

The amplification of all the sounds within the cavern were not natural, of course: It was thanks to a wide-fielded Genjutsu that amplified every minute sound. If anyone intended to infiltrate the cave, the current occupants would know.

Despite the pitch-black darkness where there was no light, two figures traversed through cave with practiced ease, stepping around or hopping above the jagged, teeth-like stalagmites on the solid stone floor. Neither depended on needing light to see: the larger of the two could see better in the dark, while the second used his glowing red eyes to pierce the darkness of the cavern.

Itachi and Kisame stopped before a clearing free of stalagmites, smooth and flat like the stone itself was molded down like clay. They stood at the epicenter of the giant cave, waiting for someone. Even in darkness, the two Nuke-nins wore their red-clouded black cloaks and bamboo hats, the bells making no sounds due to a minor silence spell.

Kisame's vision easily adjusted to the pitch-blackness of the cave, allowing him to see in shades of gray. Just like a Great White Shark, much of his eyes were just a single black iris, allowing him to see even in total darkness. Due to an advantageous mutation, his eyes could even contract into "human eyes", which helped when he was fighting in a world of bright lights and colors.

Shimmering figures of lighter gray flickered in front of the pair, one instant there, gone the next, only to reappear again, back and forth like faint shadows. Their shapes were reminiscent of what Itachi and Kisame wore, though their height differed between them, as did their hair style.

Itachi counted five, meaning three were missing of the other eight Akatsuki members. While four formed a circle on the borders of the stone clearing, one of the shimmering, shadowy figures stationed himself in the center of the flat.

Itachi and Kisame knelt down to one knee, their heads bowed in subservience. The gray shadows of their accomplices did the same. Doing anything less would invite only their master's wrath. The aura he radiated alone demanded absolute respect.

"Report." His voice was powerful, carrying the weight of his strength despite how softly he spoke.

"...Pein-sama. I regret to inform you that there has been some...complications...upon capturing the Kyuubi vessel." Itachi hoped his explanation would suffice. Skilled and powerful as he might be, he was no match for the leader of Akatsuki if he chose to make an example of his failure.

The eyes of Pein's silhouette narrowed, where a unique eye condition characterized by a number of concentric circles around the pupil revealed even in the shadow projection. "Elaborate, Itachi."

After Itachi gave a recount of what happened, Pein turned silent, thinking. Kisame even showed his burned arm. Whole again after using a complex application of a _Mizu Bunshin_, the whole shoulder was black as fresh ash, charred and burned.

But after which, the Uchiha prodigy revealed something none of the Akatsuki members believed: that the Kyuubi vessel was, for lack of a better term, "immune" to the effects of his Magenkyo Sharingan, where he was unable to affect his mind with his most powerful Genjutsus.

Kisame could tell at a glance that many of the present Akatsuki members found it amusing that Itachi's most outstanding power was of no use on a little Genin, demon vessel or not. He gripped the handle of his massive sword, Samehada, at his back, looking at each of the Akatsuki members in turn and felt very inclined to see how far their impudence stretched.

Pein silenced their muted chortles with a single glare. They instantly shut up. He turned back to Itachi. "If I were to inquire as to how your target came about this 'immunity', could you give me any facts?"

"Only speculations, Pein-sama", Itachi said quietly, still kneeling. "While it was...unprecedented that the Kyuubi vessel is unaffected by my Doijutsu, it is not unheard of that any one has resisted its effects."

Pein waited, prompting the Uchiha Nuke-nin to continue.

"Among some of the few that actually negated the Magenkyo Sharingan's effects were the Haruno clan of Konoha. Due to their...unique split-personalities, the twin persona could, by combining their mental strength, negate the Uchiha clan's Doijutsu. Based upon this fact, as the Kyuubi vessel isn't from the Haruno clan nor I believe possessing their blood, he may have, in the course of the nine days from our first encounter, altered his mind to be impervious to illusions."

It was merely speculation, of course. Itachi had no idea what might have happened to the Jinchuuriki that changed him so profoundly, but he and Kisame had investigated the battle-scarred outskirts of Tanzaku after their failed ambush. After finding the incinerated carcass of a giant snake all but solidified Itachi's earlier suspicions that Orochimaru had been in the area and fought against the other two Sennin and the demon vessel.

A quick glance up in the face of Pein's shadow projection, Itachi understood that his master already knew what transpired back at Tanzaku, and that Orochimaru has shown himself again.

Nearly a decade ago, Orochimaru had joined Akatsuki after leaving Konoha due to having been exposed for his experiments on the victims he captured from his own village. Despite showing great promise as one of Akatsuki's strongest members, he grew too ambitious for his own good, obsessing for the means to attain immortality and learn every Ninjutsu in the world.

The latter ambition led the Snake Sennin to attack Itachi in order to attain his Sharingan and copy every Ninjutsu he desired, but the Uchiha had easily dealt with Orochimaru with his Genjutsus and forced the Snake Sennin to run away from the organization, lest he face their wrath for his treasonous attempt on one of their own. It was one thing to cull the weak from their organization through consented combat, but Orochimaru's actions were uncalled for; especially with the great possibility he would betray them after gaining what he desired.

He hadn't been seen since. Until now.

There was still the issue of how the Kyuubi vessel acquired his new found mental defenses, but it all summed up to one conclusion:

The Kyuubi no Kitsune itself. The vessel and the imprisoned demon spirit were becoming one.

Itachi glanced to his left toward . Two mandible-like jaws projected from his shoulders, enveloping his head in what looked like a Venus fly trap with large, curved "fangs" that trapped Zetsu's head inside his chitinous case.

While Itachi had never seen Zetsu's technique, there was no question that the plant-like Akatsuki member was a master of espionage, able to merge with any natural material and move across vast distances almost instantly, putting his eyes in place to observe events and relay them to their master. No doubt he had been watching the entire battle between the Three Sennin from afar before giving his report to Pein.

"Since your first attempt to capture the Kyuubi vessel was unsuccessful, we must alter our plans and collect the other Jinchuuriki and Bijuu scattered across the continent. Seeing as how the Kyuubi is the strongest among the Bijuu and his host stronger than anticipated, we will wait until the time is right to capture him again."

Pein turned to one of the shadow projections of a man wielding a three-bladed scythe. "Send for Kakuzu and go to Kumogakure. Find and monitor the Jinchuuriki there, but do not engage it in combat until every one is present and ready for the ritual. Afterward, return here immediately. Understood, Hidan?"

The shadow projection of Hidan bowed before his silhouette vanished, having been dismissed. Pein turned back to Itachi and Kisame. "Since you've failed to capture the Jinchuuriki, I have another assignment for you two. Go to the remote villages settled on the borders separating Konoha and Iwa. Coerce them into a frenzy and have start raiding parties. We need a good distraction for Konoha and Iwa until the time comes to implement our final project."

Itachi and Kisame nodded in acquiesce, trudging away with a bitter taste in their mouths. To say an Akatsuki member failing any task was nothing short of an insult and a mark of disgrace.

Still, that didn't mean neither Nuke-nins would "repay" the Kyuubi vessel in full for the trouble he caused them. They'd make sure of it.

* * *

"Should I thank you for healing my injuries and taking me out of my coma?"

Tsunade barely nodded, not looking at the speaker while washing her hands in hot water. "It's not mandatory, but it would fall under good manners and conduct."

She paused, wiping her hands dry with a towel. "But, as I'm sure you're aware, you will be monitored under close watch. While you may or may not have had anything to do with the Oto/Suna invasion, I'm not taking any chances regarding whether or not you're still under Orochimaru's servitude."

The bed-bound young man spat out the window of his recovery room into the sunlit morning outside. "I'll personally see to killing that cold-blooded, son-of-a-bitch in his sleep when I can."

Tsunade turned around, facing the young man in the hospital bed. "Then do you agree to cooperate with us?"

Dosu Kinuta shrugged. "I'm not going to start going on a rampage, but until we reach a bargain, I'm keeping what I know to myself."

Tsunade nodded. Given the young shinobi's circumstances, she expected no less.

"What happened during my...absence?" Dosu asked.

The Godaime kept her face perfectly neutral, staring at Dosu's profile. "Oto and Suna surprise-attacked our village during the fourth match of the Chuunin Exam Tournament. I was just recently instated as Konoha's new Hokage, but from what I've heard from a friend"-she stressed the word with a grimace-"Orochimaru's Otonin summoned some giant snakes and had them attack the village while Orochimaru himself -disguised as the Kazekage at the time- fought a fierce battle with Sandaime Sarutobi. The stadium was where the attack started. That was about near a month ago."

"What happened to the Sandaime, then?", Dosu asked.

"Sacrificed his soul to the Shinigami through a sealing ritual to take away Orochimaru's ability to use Ninjutsu, sealing away his arms. After which, the Snake Sennin made a hasty retreat with his four henchmen out of the village, then our shinobi forces drove back the rest of the Suna and Oto shinobi."

Dosu was quiet for a while, digesting the information Tsunade provided for him. He gave a brief acknowledgment of respect towards the Sandaime for fighting to the bitter end against that snake-bastard, before his thoughts diverted elsewhere.

"What about...Suna no Gaara?" Dosu said, cringing from the name spoken. His last memory before all went black was when the Suna Genin transformed into a giant monster, then slashing at him with claws larger than pole arms.

Tsunade shrugged. "As I said, I wasn't here when the attack occurred. From what a friend of mine told me, Uchiha Sasuke pursued Gaara after their match was interrupted with Oto and Suna's invasion attack. Three Genins -Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Nara Shikamaru- were sent after Sasuke to bring him back to help defend the village.

"The details were vague, but apparently Sasuke wasn't able to stop Gaara after he 'transformed into a giant tanuki demon' and went into a rampage. Sakura was rendered unconscious early in the fight, while Shikamaru had to stay behind to delay pursuing enemy Otonin. Naruto then had to fight Gaara and managed to beat him after summoning a giant toad for assistance. Had Naruto not defeated Gaara, he would have leveled Konohagakure into ruins. This information is confidential, of course."

Dosu shook his head, unable to believe that giant demon monster that so easily nearly killed him was beaten by a clumsy, boisterous Genin that was perhaps more hyper than a shrew on a sugar high.

Tsunade's voice cut through his silent musings. "I've left you some clothes under the window since your other articles were shredded beyond repair. I'm leaving an ANBU outside your room to escort you to Hokage Tower, where I'll have you wait in my office for further instructions. I'll be going now to finish up on helping any other hospital patients. Good day, Dosu Kinuta."

Before Tsunade left the room, Dosu called out. "What happened to my teammates?"

"...You'll find out for yourself when you leave." Then Tsunade turned, opened the door, and left. The sound of the door closing shut was like the Judge's hammer finalizing his sentence.

* * *

"Somethin' on yer mind, Naruto?"

The blond Chuunin gave a small start at Teuchi Ichiraku's voice, but shook his head negative. "I'm fine. I'm just a little...distracted is all."

The ramen chef looked worried by Naruto's reply, but shrugged it off as none of his business. "Whatever you say. Just don't hesitate to talk to me or Ayame when you need an open ear. Enjoy yer dish."

When Teuchi walked to the back of his ramen stand, Naruto shoved his ramen bowl aside, unable to find his appetite. The sheer enormity of everything that happened within the span of only one month left him conflicted. His head drooped heavily in his hands, breathing out a ragged sigh.

_'Kyuubi took control of my body and would have destroyed Konoha had I not practically given my mind over to Doki. And now I have some dark...thing roaming inside of my mind and changing me from within. And worse, I can feel his presence like a poison infecting me._

_'I died twice in one day -once at the hands of Kabuto, again by Orochimaru- and I take Kabuto's life. But I don't feel regret for taking a human life; I only felt satisfaction. Especially after I took both the traitor's eye and the snake-bastard's. Am I really just as much a bloodthirsty monster as the demon fox inside me?_

_'Scarred by Orochimaru's sword, and the Kyuubi gives me an eye -**his** eye- and replaces the one I lost to Orochimaru's sword. Pale as gray and disfigured, I look just like a resurrected corpse. Thank you very **fucking** much Kyuubi, you hairy sonuva bitch!'_

Naruto blew out a frustrated breath. He felt so damn confused. What was happening to him? Why did he feel so...drained? Empty?

He didn't know. But maybe he really didn't care, since none of it really even mattered.

"Hey! Are you alright, Naruto?"

The blond Chuunin raised his head and turned to the voice. "Oh! Hey, Iruka-sensei." Naruto greeted his academy instructor with a less-than-jovial tone.

The scarred-faced Chuunin sat beside his former student, concerned. Umino Iruka wore the standard black body-suit and green flack-vest common among Chuunin and Jounin with his black hair tied atop his head like a paint brush. Average looking to a point, his most distinguishing feature was the horizontal scar across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. He wore his head-band across his brow.

Iruka looked Naruto over, seeing his new Chuunin vest and forced a smile. "I see you've made Chuunin. That's pretty good. Just two more steps away from becoming Hokage."

Naruto snorted mirthlessly. All his life he wanted to become Hokage just to be acknowledged by the people of his village. It seemed so long ago that one desire drove him on, motivated him through almost every impossible task he endured. Now it was only a half-remembered childish dream he'd rather forget.

Naruto took the direct approach. "What do you want, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka's expression fell, but answered, "I just wanted to say hi. I mean, you've been gone for weeks and I was worried about you. What happened to you anyway?"

"...Jiraiya took me along with him to find Tsunade to be the next Hokage. When we found her in Tanzaku Town, Orochimaru was already there with his subordinate, Kabuto. The Snake-Sennin was trying to bargain Tsunade for something so she could heal his arms.

"When Tsunade refused, she and Orochimaru and Kabuto fought it out on the outskirts of Tanzaku where me, Jiraiya, and Shizune found them fighting. Jiraiya was earlier poisoned by Tsunade, so he wasn't much help.

"Long story short; I fight Kabuto off Tsunade, Jiraiya fights against Orochimaru, I beat Kabuto, Orochimaru steps in, nearly kills Tsunade with his sword, I take the blow to save her life, snake-bastard hacks me to ribbons, I nearly die-"

While listening avidly, Iruka ordered himself a cup of tea since it sounded like he was going to be there for awhile.

"-Orochimaru and Kabuto move to retreat, I throw a kunai, kill Kabuto while Orochimaru got away. Afer that I fell unconscious. That just about sums up of everything that happened to me. I think Orochimaru's sword had some kinda poison coating it that changed my skin color. It was because of that I was left with these scars."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Naruto", Iruka said with sympathy. "I can't imagine how much of an impact so many things happened to you in one day. But wasn't Tsunade able to heal your eye?"

After glancing left and right, Naruto whispered, "Can you keep a secret for me, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka nodded, anxious. Naruto carefully lifted the Konoha hitai-ate off his left eye, blinking open his eyelid. Iruka stifled a gasp when he saw the glowing red eye of the Kyuubi staring back at him. When Naruto pulled his hitai-ate over his eye once more, Iruka asked, "Is that...the Kyuubi's eye? Not some kind of prank Genjutsu?"

Naruto nodded. "The eye is tied directly to the seal on my belly. It's completely Kyuubi's, and I can't change it to look normal, though I've been trying several Gejutsus to at least mask it. Having to walk and watch out for trouble with one eye gets tiring."

Iruka nodded, deciding to change the subject. "Has Hokage-sama given you any missions yet?"

"No, but I think Obaa-chan'll give some assignment today. Personally, I hope it's soon; I've been back for only two days and already I feel like I've stayed too long."

Naruto stood up, leaving money for the ramen he never ate. "Thanks for the talk Iruka-sensei. It was good seeing you again."

As Naruto was making his way down the street, he heard Iruka shout behind him in a cheery voice. "Take care of yourself Naruto. Good luck and stay out of trouble!"

"Hey! When have I ever done otherwise?" Naruto called back in a much more lighter tone. Iruka's voice faded into the background of the street traffic and the blond shinobi smiled his first genuine smile since returning to Konoha. It was good seeing his teacher again.

* * *

Dosu's first assumption was that his team mates were either comatose, bedridden due to extensive injuries that would leave them crippled for the rest of their lives, or near death and just inches away from their last breath.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing with that bottle?!"

Then again...

From the room on Dosu's right, a Chuunin crashed through door, snapping it off its hinges, before it and the Konoha-nin hit the wall with a crack, leaving behind a shallow depression in the wall. Staring at the fallen, unconscious Chuunin for a moment, Dosu turned and peeked around the door way into the recovery room.

Inside, no less than three men were struggling to subdue a young teenager with black hair that stood up in strait spikes and a weary frame, dressed in only a white hospital gown as he kicked and punched at his subduers, releasing a stream of curses that could make a salty seasoned sailor blush.

Dosu stared at Zaku Abumi's hands, remembering that the Aburame boy had used his insects to plug Zaku's hand-vents and caused the Oto-nin to blow his arms off when he tried to attack using his Zankuuha during the Prelims of the Chuunin Exam. The Medic-nins had done an amazing job repairing his damaged limbs.

After another few minutes (during which the same Chuunin who crashed through the door got up again and aided in subduing Zaku), the riled Oto-nin had been sedated with an injected tranquilizer by one of the female staff nurses. Once they securely tied Zaku into his hospital bed, he was snoring loudly and peacefully.

While the four Konoha-nins were recovering from their arduous efforts in restraining Zaku, Dosu glimpsed Kin Tsuchi, a lithe-figured kunoichi with long black hair like velvet, dark eyes and modestly attractive face, resting on her hospital bed while reading a book of some kind.

Dosu stepped up beside his ex-teammate. "How're you feeling?"

Kin shrugged. "Could be worse. The nurses are only partial stuck-up bitches and the food's little better than refuse. Still, I'm not being mistreated. My only complaint is that idiot", she pointed at the prone Zaku with her chin, "waking up and causing a near riot. Damn fool nearly kicked one of the guards into by bed."

"So...what was with his sudden outburst?" Dosu asked, eying his sedated teammate with trepidation.

"One of the nurses came in with a urine bottle so Zaku could piss without the mess. He suddenly wakes up with his pants down his ankles and bolts off his bed like a startled cat. Funny as hell to watch except for when it gets out of control."

Dosu chuckled at the imagery, turning back to glance at his ANBU escort waiting for him outside the recovery room.

He turned back to Kin. "I've gotta go. I'll be back tomorrow."

Kin nodded politely, waving him away to go. "Thanks. See ya, Dosu."

Once Dosu left the room, Kin stared longingly at the door way, hoping to get back on her feet and run free again with her team mates. Zaku's snores had quieted down enough to a more bearable level.

Kin tossed her book away, uninterested anymore in reading with so much on her mind. "Fuck doctor's orders. I need to move my feet."

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't what most of the villagers would expect him of actually showing more emotion than stoicism, but today he felt entirely furious. The reason behind his anger could be summed in one name: Uzumaki Naruto.

Despite his drastic change in appearance, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to accept the Naruto of now as the same person he was before his repeated failures in school. Watching his team mate act like a fool was normal.

But knowing now, after observing him for nearly a whole year and hearing about him reaching Chuunin rank, that Naruto had deceived everyone: He wasn't a real klutz, but a damn good actor just to get some attention.

Several factors summed up to Sasuke's recent disdain of the blond Chuunin. For one, _Naruto_ managed to defeat Gaara of the Sand while being able to summon not only a literal army of _Kage Bunshins_, but also conjuring a giant toad to battle against the crazed monster after he transformed, showing a level of power above and beyond anything he'd shown back at the Genin Academy. Back then, he was just the Class Clown, the Dead Last.

While he, Sasuke Uchiha, the proud survivor of the Uchiha clan and top-of-his-class Shinobi, couldn't even so much as effectively wound Gaara as he changed into a monster of sand.

_'What have I been doing all this time?'_ He asked himself for perhaps the hundredth time since after his fight with Gaara. While Naruto was constantly growing stronger, he himself felt like he was being left behind.

Reason two for his anger toward his blond team mate: Itachi and his partner, Kisame he was called, showed no interest in Sasuke's presence as though he was no more significant than a fly. After killing their parents before his eyes and bringing near total genocide to his clan, he should have at least acknowledged him after everything he'd suffered!

To add insult to injury, Sasuke's every attack was easily diverted and evaded while Itachi used only a few Taijutsu attacks to beat him down into a boneless heap. Pinned and helpless against the hallway wall of the hotel, Sasuke still remembered vividly what Itachi whispered to him.

_"Pathetic little brother. Still too weak. Not enough...hate."_

And then Itachi used his Magenkyo Sharingan and forced Sasuke to watch his clan's genocide, over and over again for twenty four hours in the span of a second that ripped his mind apart. He hadn't felt the same since, despite what the Godaime had done to repair the damage.

Too frustraited to even care about either going to his home or having lunch, Sasuke settled for going to the training grounds to let loose some of his pent-up aggressions. Besides, having been confined to a hospital bed left him desiring some real exercise.

Kicking off the street into an air-borne jump, Sasuke sailed through the air and landed in a crouch onto the nearest tiled roof top, breaking into a dead-sprint at full speed. The surface beneath his feet was an unseen blur, as if the Earth itself was being pulled backward from under him.

The exhilaration from the run itself was the cure that plagued his mood. His expression was a mix of excitement and satisfaction as he neared his destination.

So absorbed into his run, Sasuke was never aware of someone down below on the streets shadowing him the whole way.

* * *

When Naruto reached his home, he found the door to his apartment ajar and nearly off its hinges.

Stepping inside, his once spacious apartment was a mess. Shattered glass carpeted the floor, as did several stones which destroyed the window. Riped open trash bags spilled refuse onto the floor boards which attracted a buzzing swarm of flies. Graffiti stained the walls with either obscenely vague pictures and words with the cupboards and pantries of his kitchen wide open and his dishes shattered. Only two rooms were untouched: The bathroom and Naruto's small improvised "training room".

He might have been surprised and angry, but this was nothing new that he hadn't gotten used to.

Naruto spied several kunais and shuriken embedded into the hard-plastered walls and wooden support beams. Some knife-happy Genin must have joined in wrecking his place, as no Chuunin could do this without someone reporting it with so few hands to spare for gaurd patrols and mission departures.

_'Better tell Obaa-chan tomorrow. The last thing she needs is having some rogue going around trashing houses to kill time.'_ That thought finished, Naruto proceeded to try cleaning up the mess of trash. The blond would have considered doing this earlier when he first returned to Konoha, but had chosen to rest in a hotel near Hokage's Tower in light of an early and sudden summons from Tsunade.

Some thirty minutes passed as Naruto was near finished with straitening out his apartment when there came a loud series of knocks at Naruto's door. He kicked aside some trash bags and opened the door. An ANBU wearing a dog mask saluted him before speaking. "Hokage-sama has left orders for me to deliver you're mission assignment, as well as formal apologies for not giving it in person. She as alot of paperwork to fill out. Here's your mission scroll."

Naruto thanked the ANBU before the missionary teleported away in a puff of smoke. When opening the scroll, Naruto couldn't help but roll his eyes, exasperated. He went back inside and refitted his weapon gear before closing and locking his door -_'Much good that'll do'_, he thought- and took off toward Hokage's Tower via leaping from roof tops.

* * *

With his ANBU escort outside the Hokage's only door, Dosu allowed his eyes to wander about, instinctively searching out all the people inside the building with his hypersensitive hearing. It wasn't all that difficult since the walls were not too dense or thick. By the pads of footfalls, the different voices and overall vibrations, Dosu counted exactly one hundred-and-fourteen people inside the tower.

At least his senses were still sharp as ever. His limbs, though strong again after Medic-nins' applied healing chakra for blood circulation, were still feeling out of touch. It would take days of decent exercise to get back into his top performance.

After a while, against his better judgment, his eyes would stray to Tsunade and observe her. His one eye would trail across her face, searching for any imperfections, finding none, then inevitably staring at her large bust and tempting cleavage. Despite his current disinterest in females in favor of heightening his skills, Dosu couldn't deny that the Godaime was an attractive woman.

"I don't need to look up to know you're staring at me". Tsunade's voice was calm and light and, dare he say flattered. Dosu blushed slightly at being caught, but didn't speak. His foot was already in his mouth.

A knock came at the door, saving Dosu from any further embarrassment. A voice called, "Hogake-sama. Uzumaki Naruto is on his way after reading your message. He should be here in a few moments."

"Thank you. Return to your post, ANBU-san." Tsunade called out, still not looking up from her desk. The ANBU's footsteps faded away as he left the floor.

Another few minutes past when the door opened. Dosu turned and saw a teenage boy and girl, near his age, enter the room with a tall woman in tow. The door closed behind them.

The girl was the Hyuuga heir, if Dosu wasn't mistaken. Slightly shorter than himself, the girl's skin tone was pale and unblemished. Her pretty face was framed by two bangs of hair so dark, it appeared indigo blue in the light from her skullcap hair. She wore a baggy hooded sweater and dark trousers with weapon holsters and pouches. Her posture was slouched slightly, as thought trying to hide herself. He remembered her name being Hinata.

The boy, Inuzuka Kiba, Dosu remembered, was the one Uzumaki Naruto fought and defeated in the Chuunin Exam Prelims. Nearly as broad-shouldered as Dosu himself, Kiba wore a baggy sweater with black fleece on the sleeve cuffs and hood rim with dark trousers. His face was lean with a hard jaw, feral eyes like a wolf's, and even had pronounced canine fangs peaking from his lips. A small dog -more like a puppy- with floppy ears peaked its head out of the boy's collar.

The tall woman, the boy and girl's Jounin sensei Dosu assumed, was breath-takingly beautiful. Her long, brown hair reached to her lower back, curling about like silky vines across her shoulders. Her eyes were as red as her lips, like scarlet, and her figure was slim, but well proportioned with wide hips, toned legs and arms, and a modest bust. Her outfit, unlike any other Jounin's clothes he'd seen, was mearly a short robe wrapped in strips of cloth that stopped just below her hips with one red arm sleeve.

At least his observations were more discrete, and hadn't drawn the attention of either Tsunade or the woman, Kurenai if he wasn't mistaken.

"You wished to see us, Hokage-sama?", Kurenai asked politely, after she bowed with her students.

Tsunade raised herself from her seat and walked around her large wooden desk. "I have a mission assignment for your Genins; namely both of you, Hinata and Kiba. You'll be going to the west near the Fire Country borders where the Daimyo had his spies report of renegades and brigands terrorizing the rural villages. This young man here", Tsunade gestured with her hand to Dosu, standing calmly with his arms folded, "will be accompanying you and one other. He isn't here right now, but he should be here shortly."

Hinata chose to speak, albeit with a quiet stutter to her voice. "A-ano, Tsunade-sama, what about Kurenai-sensei? I-isn't she coming w-with us as o-our squad leader?"

"Unfortunately Hinata," Kurenai said beside the Hyuuga girl, "I'm going to have to work solo missions that require more Jounins going out into the field, probably for weeks at a time. That's why Hokage-sama deemed it necessary to have all available Genins be ready on standby in the village when we need more hands available, if most Jounins and Chuunins were already on leave. This way Konoha can still have guards stationed inside the walls and territory and still have personnel available for mission duty."

"So who's going to lead this mission?", Kiba asked with a slight sneer. "Hopefully not some arrogant guy with a stick up his-"

"K-KIBA-KUN!!", Hinata yelled out, her pale face now three shades of red. While Kurenai's expression was furious, both for the brash boy's uncooth language and in front of the Hokage no less, Tsunade only smirked. Kiba's attitude reminded her of her first encounter with Naruto in the bar.

Tsunade's smirk broadened. Kiba was about to get the surprise of his day. "Just wait a few moments. You'll see for yourself. Ah, speak of the devil! Here he is now. Come in!"

Kiba was confused, as was Hinata, but then the door behind them opened and they turned to see who entered. At first, neither recognized him, though the sight of his grizzly scarred face and stone-pale skin made them draw back. His hitai-ate was pulled down over his left eye much like Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Nin and Team 7's Jounin leader.

One trait they noticed was how young he was. No older than themselves. Yet he wore a green flack-vest, either a Chuunin or a Jounin, but neither Hinata or Kiba had ever seen him before.

But then Hinata spied the rust-orange trousers, the bright blond hair that peaked out from under the cloth cap across his scalp, and unmistakable whiskers she loved so much. Even before she saw his dark blue eye, she knew who he was.

"Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded, not looking at her and standing at attention beside Dosu, waiting for Tsunade's orders. Kiba's eyes were wide with shock, while Hinata barely suppressed a gasp, holding her small hands over her mouth. What happened to him?

"Mind telling me why you decided to write in the message scroll you delivered, 'Please come to Hokage's Tower to receive your assignment' when you could have just told the ANBU who delivered it to relay the message? I mean, for Kami's sake, that was asinine."

Hinata exhaled a small breath, relieved that he still sounded like himself, if a lot more controlled and mellow.

"Unimportant. I'm assigning you as team leader for this mission." Tsunade pulled out a small red scroll and tossed it to Naruto, who caught it in mid-air. "All the details about the mission in there. You have three hours to prepare for departure, so I suggest you gather your supplies for a few weeks out in the open. You're dismissed."

"What about him?", Naruto asked, pointing to Dosu. The said former Oto-nin hadn't moved an inch.

"You'll be taking him with you to aid in your mission. And this is nonnegotiable. You're dismissed, Uzumaki. And good luck to your success."

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Hokage-sama?", Yuuhi Kurenai asked Tsunade after the younger shinobi left the office. "We can't know for certain what Dosu Kinuta will do alone with them. Why are you risking their safety just to see if he's trustworthy? What purpose can Dosu be to us?"

"It's not that I'm testing Dosu's trust," Tsunade said evenly, "But I'm actually testing to see how well different teams can perform on missions. Because we have so few hands available, we need to constantly rearrange four-man teams so our operatives can be flexible. Besides, I've left a message inside the scroll I gave to Naruto to act as Dosu's watchguard and report anything of particular regarding Otogakure or Orochimaru. I did promise Dosu he wouldn't be put under a tribunal as the Council demanded."

Kurenai was confused. "Why would the Council-" She stopped short, and her eyes narrrowed dangerously. "I see. Put him under a public execution to boost moral among the villagers and remove a potential threat."

Tsunade nodded. "The Council actually tried to refuse allowing Uzumaki the promotion to Chuunin, but once they had suggested to promote all qualifying Genin candidates, they let it pass in favor of saving their image. Those pompous pricks actually tried to persuade me to promote Uchiha Sasuke, but declined after hearing the full report from you, Kakashi, and Asuma on the observations of the Genins during the Chuunin Exam."

Kurenai's expression grew troubled. "The Council won't tolerate Uzumaki-kun being a shinobi of any standing rank. They'll see it as a threat to Konoha's safety about having a 'Demon' wandering free. Sooner or later the Council will take...extreme measures. Are you -and Naruto- ready for that? Can Konoha afford a dissension so soon after Orochimaru's surprise attack?"

"We don't have a choice." Tsunade stated. Her pretty face was scrunched in a scowl. "We have too many enemies from outside our walls as is. Our only allies are Suna in this war, and I don't doubt the other Hidden Ninja Villages will launch an attack on us soon. Our political enemies -and I'll not even begin to state their names- will do anything to see me removed from office and take authority for their own petty reasons. I need Naruto as much as Sarutobi-sensei needed the Yondaime."

Kurenai looked at Tsunade, confused. "What does Naruto have to do with this?"

In that split second to speak, Tsunade's shoulders sagged, as if crumpling from withing, and she appeared older than her Genjutsu deceived. "Take a seat, Kurenai. This will take a while to explain. And nothing of this conversation is to leave this office. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Now, where to begin..."

* * *

Nearly two days into their mission, Naruto, Kiba, Hinata and Dosu were treking through the outskirts of the forest that dominated the span of the Land of Fire. Taking the lead was Hinata, using her Byakuugan to scan the area around them for signs of danger. Naruto took second position to give support with his _Kage Bunshins_, Kiba in third for surprise attack, and Dosu bringing up the rear. He was best qualified, as his acute hearing would spot trouble coming from behind.

"Why didn't Shino come with you guys?", Naruto asked Kiba, whom was walking behind him.

"Said something about his dad deciding to train him and take him on missions with him. Since the war started, he figured it was as good time as any to get in more training with his family's art." Then Kiba shrugged. "Or something like that. He used too many damn complicated words to really know what the hell he was talking about. I swear he reads a dictionary every night before going to bed...since he was five!"

Naruto hummed, nodding. Sounded just like Shino.

"What about you, Uzumaki? What did you do for the whole month you were gone? Our team had only a few missions between then, but we've been just practicing our team work. Anything interesting happen?"

"It can wait until I'm ready to tell you." Naruto looked up through the tree canopy to the setting sun. Dusk was nearing. "Let's set camp and build a fire. Kiba, go hunting. Hinata, stand watch. I'll patrol the area. Dosu, you're with me."

Hinata and Kiba looked mildly wary about Dosu going off with Naruto without backup, but nodded and slipped their supply packs off their shoulders. Kiba kicked off the dirt and into the darkening forest, using his keen sense of smell to track for prey. Hinata took to building a fire with dry twigs and branches and dropped a lit tinder pick into the small pile of wood. Naruto and Dosu shrugged off their packs and took to the forest.

After making a complete circuit around their camp, Naruto motioned Dosu to stop when they landed on the ground. Once grounded, Naruto conjured eight _Kage Bunshins_ and ordered them to scout the area, scattering like frenzied grasshoppers.

"I know this may seem unnecessary, but I want to make a few things clear before we continue our mission:

"One: You do as I say, no questions asked unless you have plans for alternative courses. I'll need everyone's help in these missions, including you.

"Two: Unless I tell you otherwise, you do not stray from my side. I've been given express orders to watch you and frankly, I don't feel ready to trust my life or anybody elses to you just yet until I see for myself you're trustworthy.

"Three: If under any circumstances you endanger me or my friends, I won't hesitate to kill you. I'll not have any friendly blood spilt because of your treachery or carelessness. Am I understood?"

Dosu nodded. "Perfectly."

Naruto looked back to their camp. His eyes were hard, cold, and sharp. Like the knife in his holster. "We're going off alone to deal with the bandits. I'll leave two of my Dopplegangers to disguise as you and act as myself. We're doing this alone."

"Why do this alone?", Dosu asked. No concern laced his voice, just curiosity. "What do you hope to gain?"

But Naruto had already turned away, heading west under the darkening sky with the setting sun at their backs. His strides were focused and purposeful, and Dosu had no doubt what the blond Chuunin had in mind.

With a resigned sigh, Dosu followed.

* * *

Koiban hummed a merry tune as he and his twenty-sum comrades, all armed to the teeth with stolen weapons, marched to their homebase. He was short, skeletal thin and his robe was so loose, a gust of wind nearly always made him stagger. His face was like a bird's; lean, long-nosed, hollow cheeks, deepset shadowed eyes and frazzled brown hair. Still, he could hold his own like any man next to him with his spearblade.

Koiban inhaled the fresh, clean air of morning, the sun having peeked above the horizon nearly two hours ago. It was moments like these that showed the joy of simple things. Freedom. Breathing. Life.

"Get yer head outta yer ass already, scarecrow. Don't want to carry ya if ya trip over yer own feet." Said the giant man next to the rogue, carrying a large spiked club over his thick, rippling shoulder. The big man, nicknamed Krusher for his giant club, only wore a small vest and loose trousers and sash belt, as his sheer size permitted nothing else. His face was a mask of scars and black facial hair trimmed in a goatee with bushy eyebrows.

Several of the bandits around them laughed, causing the small, thin rogue to scowl. It annoyed Koiban to no end that Krusher talked down to him still like some lackey, despite having worked next to the big man with their leader for over thirteen years, but kept quiet. Nothing would come of talking back but a busted lip or a broken face.

Something from the forest rustled. All the bandits were suddenly on high alert and snapped into defensive positions, forming a rough circle to watch all directions for any incoming attacks. Koiban gripped his spear shaft tightly, his palms growing sweaty. The forest, their surroundings, everywhere, it was deathly quiet. Like the earth was smothered in silence.

A tiny dot of shadow flickered on the grassy ground in front of Koiban's feet, and he looked up to see what it was. The sunlight blinded him and ruined his chance to see, but then it gleamed with reflected light, stinging his eyes. Then it dropped like a stone, aiming for him.

Whatever it was, the object was deadly. He hopped under Krusher's giant, upraised spiked club, using it as a shield. Krusher growled something in his throat but fell silent when the sky grew dark. Everyone looked up-

And then it was raining death.

Dropping from the sky around Koiban were hundreds -Thousands!- of kunais that pierced into the grassy soil, slicing through the bodies of his comrades and embedding into their flesh. Safe from the falling knives under Krusher's giant club, Koiban watched in avid horror as his men died around him. A stray knife sliced through the sleeve of his robe, but he didn't notice.

Then Krusher fell, bringing his club down with him, and hit the ground like a felled tree and removing Koiban's temporary cover. The rest of the bandits soon followed suit, plopping onto the blood-soaked ground with wet smacks. Countless kunais peppered the soil like deadly mockeries of flowers, gleaming wet with blood and grassdew.

His breaths came in short gasps as his knees buckled and gave out from under him. Koiban stared wide eyed at the carnage around him, of the bodies of his men turned into pincushions, knives sticking out from their flesh. He felt the bile in the back of his throat rise.

He blinked, then shot back in fright. One instant no one was infront of him, the next second there were two shinobi standing there, looking over the grizzly scene. One was a dark-haired teenager with an eye-patch and a metal gauntlet on his right arm, the other was a young man around the same age with blue eyes, green flack-vest and rust-orange trousers. When his eyes flicked around himself, the mass of kunais had dissappeared, leaving only one atop Krusher's spiked club. He knew now what stood before him: shinobi.

The one with the eye-patch turned to his partner with the blond hair. "What was that technique you used on them? I've never seen so many kunais jsut appear and drop from the sky."

"It's called Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Just like my primary technique, except I apply several more hand seals to make the chakra stored inside the knife to make it replicate. It's easier if it has a chakra string attached to it."

The blue-eyed shinobi stared down at Koiban with a look of utter calm but deadliness. The thin rogue sudden felt like a peasant before a king. "Since you're the only one alive, you'll be coming with us." It wasn't a request, or a suggestion. It was an order.

Koiban hadn't realised he was shaking until he spoke in a stutter. "W-who are y-y-you? W-what-? How-?"

The one with the gauntlet and eye-patch grinned maliciously, raising a finger to his lips in a silence gesture. "Shhh. It's a secret."

Koiban had heard once long ago as a little boy from his father about men being capable of inspiring greater fear in others than most demons and monsters of ancient folklore and today. And right now, he felt he was in the presence of two such beings. He was terrified.

Knowing it was senseless to refuse or resist, Koiban stood on shaky legs and allowed the blue-eyed shinobi to tie him up with thin metal wires, securing his arms to his sides. After he was fully bound, Koiban's captors lead him into the forest, away from the slaughter and scent of blood. He tried to ignore the wet sounds of his foot steps in the grass and prayed he'd live through this nightmare.

* * *

Another two hours passed. Naruto began refitting his gear and weapons, tightening straps and readjusting his leather armor beneath his flack-vest. His Genjutsu mask faded away and had to apply a double _Henge_ to cover his scars, birthmark whiskers, and his red eye, though it was more difficult to hide his pale skin. He wanted nothing of his true appearance to be noted by any enemies, should he fail not to eliminate all the bandits.

To defeat an opponent, one must put the fear of defeat into him first. If no one could place him, the fear of being anywhere at any time would act as the perfect catalyst to inspire terror into his enemies. It was, after all, the unknown that inspired greater terror than open confrontation.

At least their captive was willing to share as much information as he could give, and based on his compliance, knew he was telling them no lies. Dosu managed to confirm it by testing his heart rate without the man, Koiban was his name, from knowing. After getting all the information they needed from the captive -the layout of their stronghold, the number of bandits housed within, and where their captives were located- Naruto and Dosu chose to wait until dusk to attack the stronghold housing the bandit party.

After reading through two more of his sealing scrolls, Naruto sat with his legs folded in deep meditation. Having to clear his mind, sort through all information stored in his memories, then arrange them into easy access, was the key to mastering any and all techniques he'd learn before and develope later. The task was like building his mind into a series of hallways and corridors -like that of Kyuubi's seal- with rooms and doors leading to a different memory.

He was reliving the fight against Kabuto.

Every detail was still fresh to his mind, but everything during the fight was a blur of motion. Like slowing down the picture frames of a movie in his mind, Naruto had to anchore his will onto Kabuto's form, concentrating. Everything then came into sharper focus. He could remember the musk of his sweat-stained clothes, the burn of his limbs from fatigue, the movements of his attacks clashing against Kabuto's manuevers.

_'Slow it down. Slower, slower. Find when he attacked. Remember it. Concentrate.'_

The pain of the memory was all he needed. Naruto could still recollect the feel of his ligaments tearing when Kabuto snapped his right leg at the knee, the crunching sound of his knee-cap snapping. His leg twinged from the memory.

The crunch of dry leaves alerted Naruto of someone behind him, pulling him out of his reverie. He turned, finding Dosu standing ready. With two of Naruto's Kage Bunshins standing guard over Koiban, niether shinobi feared he would escape.

"I know this might be a bad time," Dosu asked, "But won't Kiba and Hinata-san follow our tracks and eventually catch up to us? I see no point why we dont' use their assistance still."

Naruto pushed himself back on his feet. "If Kiba and Hinata are going to follow us, Kiba will have to track us by scent. That's the true reason I deployed eight _Kage Bunshins_ to scatter in different directions to lead them away from our present spot."

Dosu wasn't convinced, and his expression showed. "What's the real reason to left your friends behind?"

"That is my business and mine alone. Do as your told and get your gear situated. We attack tonight under cover of darkness." Naruto then turned his back at Dosu, pulled out two odd-shaped kunais and embedded one into a tree to his right and throwing the other one to his left, also embedding it into the solid bark. Dosu came closer to inspect the strange kunais, noting the seal formulas scribbled onto the cylindrical handle. What were they for?

"What are these for?" Dosu asked, pointing at the kunais.

When Dosu looked back, Naruto was already gone. And Dosu knew where to find him. With another irritated sigh, the former Otonin jumped into motion, following the blond to their destination.

* * *

Koiban walked with a slight limp in his step under the dim light of the waning moon, knowing what he was supposed to do. His captors had made it very clear. All he had to do was walk in, tell his comrads his hunting party had been ambushed while he managed to escape, then wait until the unsueing slaughter began. The thin rogue could still remember the blue-eyed shinobi's exact words before releasing his bonds.

_"You're going to help us whether you like it or not. Tell your people your party fell to ambushers while you barely managed to escape to tell the tale. Even mention us as a side note and I'll personally see to killing you in my most torturous fashion._

_"Think of your cooperation as your means of keeping your life. Either my partner here or I could just disguise ourselves as you and another of your party members while we leave you for vultures, or you could play along and live to see tomorrow's sunrise. Decide now while there's still time left to consider the alternatives."_

Needless to say, Koiban chose to go along with their plan. Between his partners and his life, he'd choose to save himself if possible. It was unlikely the rest of the bandits at their fort would survive the coming slaughter regardless of his death. The blond Chuunin and the gauntlet user then proceeded to beat him with bare fists to give more crediblity to his story, leaving him with blue and purple bruises. He couldn't well return alive from an ambush without a few injuries.

Finding a dirt-worn path, Koiban knew he was on the right trail leading to the Bandit Fort. Another five minutes and he stepped out of the forest and into a grass clearing with short tree stumps pocketing the area. In the center of the clearing stood the giant edifice of wood, composed entirely of cut-down trees striped down to their yellowish cores. The walls alone were twenty feet high, inner watch towers almost twice that height. Torches and lanterns were lit, casting garrish light around the structure's outer perimeter. If anyone was going to try to infiltrate their encampment, they'd be spotted and dealt with accordingly.

Except no one inside those thick wooden walls ever encountered a shinobi all too willing to spill blood and seek it out. They'd all be dead before the sunrise.

When he was spotted by the watchtower men, they hollered down to the gate keepers, ordering them to lower the gate. A giant section of the wall itself lifted upward in a ninety degree angle, nearly a full five hundred stones heavy. The winched chains creaked in protest to the mechanical motion, on the verge of snapping into tiny peices, yet held strong still. Not wasting any time, Koiban shuffled as quickly as his limping form would permit. The heavy wooden gate slammed shut behind him with a thunderous _boom_.

His compatriots swarmed around him, some elated to see him, others scowling from impatience. Nearly one hundred bandits comprised the fort's offensive force, another fifty or so only captives and hired whores and hookers. They began demanding to know what happened to rest of the hunting party, emphisizing their demands by raising their makeshift weapons. Koiban did as his captors had told him, telling the story about his group's ambush and how he managed to escape and warn his men.

Koiban could see most accepted his story, but several looked skeptical at him. One of the bandits, a man the size of a bear and just as muscular, stepped forward with spiked hammer over his shoulder. He wore dark pants and a v-neck shirt. "Something doesn't add up. What did these 'ambushers' look like?"

Koiban blurted it out without thinking. "S-samurai. Or ronins. Some villagers with plows and spades and clubs and-- when they saw us, they hit us with arrows first, then came in close. I'm only alive now because Krusher pinned me under his body. He was killed by arrows. After it was over, they took all the weapons and found me alive. They tried to beat me for information, but I stayed tight-lipped. I only managed to escape just an hour ago. They might have followed my trail."

Satisfied by his fabricated story, Koiban was left alone in his bunking quarters while the rest of teh bandits readied for a possible night attack. They gave him some basic medical supplies to treat his cuts and bruises, which the thin rogue used happily. While slipping off the top-half of his robe to wrap gauzes around his shoulder, a small vial with clear liquid inside it dropped out of his inner pocket, clattering to the floor.

Koiban's stomach dropped when he saw it. Another of his captor's orders were to pour the vial liquid into the bandit's drinking water. The thought of taking part in actually killing his comrads left him sick to his stomach, but he knew what would happen otherwise. With shaking hands, Koiban picked up the vial and left his quarters, his injuries forgotten.

* * *

Their infiltration went a little too smoothly for Naruto's liking. Once the waning moon became obscured behind the dark passing clouds, Naruto and Dosu all but dead sprinted out of the forest surrounding the Bandit Fort, hugging the shadows of the flickering torchlight. Only five guards were patroling outside the defensive walls, all of which were droopy-eyed and tired at the late hour. Using his gauntlet to silence the sound around them, Dosu snapped the necks of his victims while Naruto took to slitting the other guards' throats. Leaving behind the five bodies behind, the two shinobi used chakra to anchor to their hands and feet to scale the outerwall's vertical surface. They peered over the wall's edge, taking in the scene.

Naruto cursed under his breath. There were too many bright lit torches to provide shadows for cover, and too many bandits to fight off at once. Even with his Kage Bunshins, he doubted he and Dosu could deal with all of them without either suffering serious injury or death.

An explosion suddenly erupted around the rear barracks in the back of the fort's walls, sending up wood shrapnel and clouds of smoke and dust. The noise was so loud, Naruto thought his ears had split from the inside.

His instincts pulled at him, telling the blond Chuunin he had company. He turned to his right, expecting an enemy but finding the Hyuuga heiress instead, her Byakugan active and the veins around her eyes swelling.

"What are you doing here?", Naruto demanded, narrowing his eyes.

When Hinata turned to face him, she suddenly gasped. At first Naruto was confused, but cursed only a second later after remembering the Byakugan could see through illusions. She must've seen his red eye through the illusion mask he put over it.

Except he didn't have time to explain. "Did Kiba follow us? Is he down there right now?!"

Naruto voice managed to shake Hinata out of her shock, though she looked away, ashamed. "Y-yes. He's down there now giving you a distraction. We managed to follow you after your _Kage Bunshins_ timed out. We better hurry before the bandits realise what's going on."

Naruto and Dosu nodded, hopping over the edge of the wall and into the chaos.

To be continued...

* * *

Jutsus used/mentioned in chapter:

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Doppleganger/Clone)-_A Jounin-level technique; user creates a solid double of him/herself by using their chakra to shape the body and gives the look-alike construct their own free will. Each Doppleganger is able to even act either independently or follow mental commands given to them by their mind-link with the main body. Drawback is that the technique requires one to either split his chakra evenly between himself and all the Dopplegangers he/she creates, but with every Doppleganger destroyed, the main body receives knowledge gained by the construct. Each single clone can do any Jutsu the main body can, given the amount of chakra used to conjure it.

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)-_A high-level technique where one can bring forth an animal partner to aid them in battle, escape, espionage, etc. Technique requires one signing a contract on a summoning scroll in order to conjure an animal summon. Jutsu requires also an enormous amount of chakra to summon any significantly powerful, large, or mature summoning beast.

_Kyoumeisen (Vibrating Sound-drill)_- Dosu Kinuta's standard technique. Using the gauntlet on his arm, Dosu utilizes any and all vibrations from sound and focuses the sound waves into ultrasonic pulses to attack his oponent. By controlling, compressing, and directing the vibrations with his chakra, he can either hit the inner-ear and destroy the target's balance and/or killing them by intercranial bleeding, or shatter solid matter like trees and living tissue.

_Rasengan (Spiral-sphere)-_An A-class technique where one gathers chakra to their hand, spins the chakra, then compresses the energy into a sphere of swirling blue energy no larger than a fist, but with the power of a hurricane. Requires a massive amount of chakra to maintain and create, but requires no hand-seals. One of the Yondaime's original techniques.

_Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Kunai Shadow Replication Technique)_- A high-level technique similar to the _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_, but with a different medium. This technique affects only the knife thrown by the user, who then uses the risidual chakra charged into the knife to replicate it into dozens of solid copies. This allows for greater percentage to hit the target with many knives spread across a large area. Once hitting a target, the replicas disperse harmlessly into smoke.

_Zankuuha (Decapitating Air-slice)-_ Zaku Abumi's standard technique using his sound-tunnels imbedded in his arms to discharge concentrated blasts of air pressure through the powerful sound waves projected from his "wind tunnels." Explosive and powerful, it could shatter giant boulders or turn hard-rock earth into loose dirt to provide cushioning.

Translations:

Ami-Kuragakure no Sato- Village of Hidden Web-Scale

Bijuu- Tailed-beast

Chuunin- Medium Ninja Rank

Gama Kudo- Toad Mountain

Gama Fuwa'ashi- Toad Lightfoot

Genin- Low Ninja Rank

Genjutsu- Illusion Art

Genkaikekkei- Bloodline limit

Hokage- Fire Shadow, Highest Ninja Rank, Village Leader

Hyorogan- Soldier Pill

Jinchuuriki- Human-sacrifice/Tail-beast demon vessel

Jounin- High Ninja Rank

Keirakukei- Chakra coils

Konohagakure no Sato- Village of Hidden Leaf

Kumogakure- Hidden Cloud

Kurohane no Sato- Village of Black Feather

Kyuubi no Kitsune- Fox of Ninetails

Ningu- Ninja Weapons

Ninjato- a strait-blade sword like a katana, used by ninjas

Oto- Sound

Ronin- Masterless Samurai

Samehada- Sharkskin

Sennin- Hermit/Sage/Wizard

Sharingan- Windmill-eye

Shinigami- Death God

Suna- Sand

Tanuki- lit. Raccoon dog, an animal famous in Japanese folklore


	4. Ch 04: Missions and Hardearned Lessons

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be typing this fanfic here, now would I?**

**Ch.04:**

_I used to remember what it was like to smile in genuine joy, or happiness. Maybe that's when I was living in blissful ignorance. I used to walk around my village without a care in the world, happy to see, smell, and touch everything that fascinated me. I was just happy to be alive. Even if I had no one to care for me, no one to show any affection toward me, I was happy._

_And naive._

_Except now I see the truth. In everything, in and around me._

_The villagers looked at me with nothing but hatred and loathing. I never noticed when I was just a small child. Then I heard their threats, their accusations, felt their hate toward me as I grew up and became more aware of my surroundings. Everyone around me hated me for reasons beyond my knowledge, driving me to the peak of uncertainty and confusion. I grew so scared and frustrated, I didn't know what I should do, nor did I have anyone to confide in, no one to help me understand anything. _

_So I began to hate them back. It felt natural to release myself over to all the negative feelings growing inside me, that I let it overcome me._

_Anyone that tried to shove at me, I kicked them in their legs or their groins (depending upon the sexes). They cursed me behind my back, so I pulled pranks for some amusement. Parents pulled their children away from me so I couldn't play with them, so I sulked, alone, swaying back and forth on a chained swing in the playground until the sun set._

_Maybe that's when Doki was manifesting in my mind, slowly growing into the monster that merged with my psyche and turned me into a cold-hearted killer. As it is, it no longer matters. I am what I am today, and there was no changing that._

_When Mizuki had tricked me into stealing the Scroll of Forbidden Seals, Iruka-sensei managed to track me down in the forest. It wasn't until he arrived that Mizuki appeared and blindsided Iruka-sensei and revealed that I was the container of the Kyuubi, and everyone in the village save me and the children in my generation, knew about it._

_Perhaps it was then that the seal on my belly holding the Kyuubi imprisoned began to slowly break down, unraveling enough to permit the demon fox more power to attempt gaining some form of freedom. Or maybe the seal was always meant to unravel so I could use the Kyuubi's power more easily._

_It doesn't matter now. Maybe it never did in the first place._

_But I wasn't completely alone. There was one other person aside from Iruka-sensei that extended their hand toward me._

_He was the Hokage, Sandaime Sarutobi._

_He was the first person to look at me, talk to me, even hug me like I was part of his family, something I never had or known. He smiled with me when we were together, yelling at me only to reprimand my misdeeds and pranks. I thought he was so great, even when I said otherwise, that I wanted to be a Hokage as well. Although I once said the Yondaime was who I wanted to grow up into, Sarutobi was my inspiration. He meant the world to me, even though I grew out of my childish dependence on him, and saw him as just an annoying parental figure that I wanted to avoid. I grew too prideful, and the bitterness of being alone when he had other more important duties kept us apart._

_And now he's gone. And I can't even tell him thank you for all the kindness he gave me. _

_I kneel in front of Saru-jiji's gravestone, a white lilac flower in one hand. It's raining so hard it's almost sleet, but the rain's a welcome reprieve. The water mixes with my tears as I weep, kneeling before the grave marker of the greatest man I ever knew, and feel only regret for all the things I've ever done to trouble him, and every word I never got to give him._

_Behind me, someone else stands close by, either respecting my space or just observing, it doesn't matter. I know who it is, but I don't turn around to acknowledge her presence. My throat feels so tight, I can barely breathe. I wanted to say something meaningful, important, but only sobs shook through me, robbing me of my strength. It's almost a relief to know I can still cry._

_My words come out as a whisper. "I'm sorry."_

From the memoirs of Naruto Uzumaki

**Missions and Hard-earned Lessons**

The captives huddled together in groups, most of them women and children with dirty, torn or ragged clothes. The room reeked terribly of refuse and urine, of humid sweat and unwashed bodies. Naruto could only guess how long they'd been caged together like this so neglectfully, but he'd hazard a guess they'd been here for about three days. The children were almost deathly thin.

The chaos outside the walls of the cell drifted away from the blonde Chuunin's awareness, his knuckles cracking from clenching his fist so tightly. A glance toward Dosu found the former Oto-nin was just as furious upon looking at the huddled women and children. Hinata could only hold her hands over mouth in silent despair at the sight, but moved toward the women with her hands raised and whispering soothing words as she inspected them.

Naruto glared down at Koiban with a look of absolute hatred and fury. "Care to explain?"

Koiban said nothing, couldn't say anything from his suddenly tight throat while his thin frame trembled. He was dimly aware of something warm and wet flowing down his legs.

Dosu observed the women, trying to find some indication if any of them had been violated by the thin rogue. None of them looked at the bandit with either fear or loathing, meaning he hadn't participated in raping any of captives. When Naruto glanced back at him, Dosu shook his, indicating Koiban took no part. Koiban all but collapsed to his knees when Naruto moved away toward the captives.

Some of the women clutched their children tightly, cringing from the Chuunin's approach, but Naruto wasn't discouraged. He knelt next to one of the women hugging her daughter and looked her straight in the eye. "Don't worry. You're safe now. Me and my friends here are gonna help you get outta here and take you to a safe place."

Part of him felt sick to his stomach, just speaking the words left a horrible taste in his throat. How can he say everything would be alright after everything these people suffered through? Did he even believe any of it? Or was it just a false reassurance to them as much to himself, as if to justify his powerlessness to help them when they needed it most?

Beside him, Hinata placed her hand on his shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts. Her expression was sad, grief-stricken, but hopeful. She believed they could help these people. "Come on, Naruto-kun. Let's get these people to safety."

Thankful for Hinata's words, Naruto said, "Tell them all to huddle together into one group as close as possible. We better hurry; it sounds like Kiba's gonna need our help soon." Hinata nodded and told everyone to gather together as Naruto placed his hands palm-to-palm in front of his face, eyes closed from the strain of concentrating his chakra. Behind him, Dosu kept guard at the door in the event of any bandits finding them.

Having gathered the chakra he needed, Naruto struck the wet, muddy ground with his right palm, sending out a pulse of almost tangible energy like a ripple. In response, a ring of flaring, ember-like seal runes surrounded the huddled group of women and children, glowing red in the near-total darkness of the dank cell. Both Dosu and Hinata stared wide-eyed, while the startled captives yelped or gasped.

Wasting no time, Naruto stood again and flashed through several hand seals before finishing the ritual with his palms flat together.

"Kuchiyose: Fubaku Shunshin no Jutsu."

The ring of seal runes on the floor suddenly flared blinding-bright red like fire, forcing everyone in the room but Naruto to shield their eyes from the glare whena blinding flash of light from the circle of seals erupted. When Dosu and Hinata opened their eyes again, the prisoners vanished, leaving behind only their footprints in the muddy floor.

"What the hell did you do?" Dosu asked after his eyes readjusted to the dark. Beside him, Hinata was fretting almost childishly, muttering something under her breath.

"I transported them to the spot where I left the two seal-imbued kunais to act as the guidepost for the teleportation. Don't worry; they're safe and sound, if a little shaky. Hopefully we'll be done with the suckers outside before any of the women and children wander too far."

Dosu was highly impressed. He never knew the former-hyperactive shinobi could perform such techniques, yet he did with surprising efficiency. The former-Otonin made a mental note not to cross the Chuunin at all cost. Who knew what else he was capable of?

Naruto panned to Hinata, letting his illusion mask fade from his face and expose his garish scars and glaring red eye. Dosu flinched back, startled at the sight of the crimson orb. At least Hinata didn't look away, though her expression was clearly troubled.

"Go on ahead and help Kiba. Me and Dosu will be there shortly. There's something else we gotta do before joining you."

Reluctantly, Hinata nodded and moved to leave the cell, though not before she looked back over her shoulder at the blond shinobi with an almost pleading expression. She left without a word, closing the heavy wooden door behind her.

Naruto didn't think anything of her parting look, swerving back around to face Dosu. "Before we leave, I'm going to ask you to do something for me—and don't ask any questions about it, we don't have time- so listen carefully. Understand?"

Confused, Dosu just nodded, hoping to carry things along.

Naruto didn't blink. Didn't even seem to breathe for a long moment. "When we step outside those doors, I'm going to kill every one of those bandits. And I'm going to need your help after I've finished with them. I'm not going to able to stop myself once I go…berserk, so—damn it, I don't know how to explain it.

"Just promise me that, once I've killed the bandits, you do anything –and everything- you can to stop me. And if you can't knock me out, then kill me. As soon as the chaos begins, I don't think I'll be able to stop myself from killing everyone and everything else in my rampage. You'll know when to act once it starts.

"Once this is over, you can do whatever you want: stay with us, go wherever, I won't stop you. Just do me this one thing for me. Please."

Dosu thought the blond Chuunin was joking, but his expression never wavered. He was serious. Not trusting himself to speak, Dosu nodded once more and readjusted his sound-gauntlet, priming it for combat. Naruto took the former-Otonin's nod as all the acceptance he needed and dashed for the exit with Dosu following close behind.

Hardly believing his luck, Koiban wasted no time in heading to the cell doors and went to make his escape. With the shinobi preoccupied with killing the bandits, he could get away without them noticing.

Except Koiban only made one step outside the holding cell before a fist struck him on the side of his head, knocking him out cold. He hadn't taken into account of Naruto leaving behind a _Kage Bunshin_ to deal with him before leaping into the battle in the courtyard.

* * *

Kiba snarled, flinging another smoke bomb to provide cover from the numerous bandits. There seemed to be no end to them; every one he dropped, wounded and bleeding from his claw-swipes, two more would take their place and come at him with swords and spears that kept coming closer to reaching their mark. Worse, their numbers seemed to be gathering in more organized formations while his chakra levels were dwindling. He seriously hoped Hinata had found Naruto and Dosu and were helping the captives. With any luck, his explosive distraction helped them avoid too much interference from any guards.

He dropped into a crouch on all fours and channeled his chakra around his limbs, strengthening them for his signature technique. "Akamaru! Double-team attack on my signal!" Kiba yelled to his canine companion, which had transformed into a Doppelganger of Kiba himself and mirrored his master's posture.

"Gatsuuga!"

Both Kiba and Akamaru kicked off the ground at once, spinning in a corkscrew motion with such speed they resembled tornado missiles. Fang and claw and sheer animal ferocity plowed through the ranks of the bandits, rending and cutting anyone and everyone within reach. As part of the Inuzuka clan's method of combat when using their attacks, most were used by relying heavily on smell and hearing, since vision is all but impossible for their high-speed techniques. Kiba and Akamaru needed only to smell their opponent.

The Inuzuka boy and his canine companion repeated their attacks almost five times by the time Hinata, Naruto and Dosu arrived on the scene in the courtyard. Kiba skidded to a halt, his momentum spent and his limbs burning with exhaustion from repeated strenuous maneuvers. Akamaru dispersed his Henge and scuttled into Kiba's coat, also tired but having done his part in the mission.

Kiba patted his canine friend's head. "Good job, Akamaru. You take a break; we'll handle it from here."

One of the bandits raised his sword and pointed at the newcomers, shouting, "Ninja-brats gots friends! KILL 'EM!" The remaining bandits and rogues still on their feet shouted battle cries and ran toward the shinobi, more than three scores of them, and still more getting back on their feet from Kiba and Akamaru's earlier attacks, some bleeding but not dead.

Hinata met the first wave of bandits with her Byakugan active, her hands haloed by blue chakra energy. Using her clan's Taijutsu, the Gentle Fist style, she jabbed at her opponent's openings, paralyzing the spot she touched by blocking the tenketsu within their bodies with her chakra. Most of her attacks were just meant to disable, but she grew more aggressive with her strikes as several additional bandits tried to out-flank and surround her.

One bandit thrusted his spear toward her back, but Hinata ducked the blade, spun, grabbed the spear-shaft, and pulled the man into her waiting chakra-charged palm, hitting him in the chest and stunning him. Another swung a katana at her head, which she effortlessly flipped over, kicking off the ground gracefully before landing lightly behind her attacker and, not needing to use her Gentle Fist, hand-chopped the man's neck and knocked him out.

Dosu was not so merciful. His first opponent fell dead the moment the former-Otonin buried his gauntlet-fist into his belly and discharged a blast of concentrated sonic vibrations into his stomach, liquefying his organs. A spiked club arced toward his head, but Dosu casually lifted his gauntlet arm, blocking the weapon and used his free hand to pull out a kunai and slashed out, opening the rogue's throat in a spray of scarlet. One bandit was running toward him when he tripped over the body of his comrade Dosu just killed last, falling face-first into the dirt. A well-placed kick to the fallen bandit's head ensured he wasn't getting back up.

_Side-step--Cut--Spin--Stab--Lunge--Roll--Kick_. Armed with a kunai in each hand, Naruto moved without thought, allowing his killer-instincts, deep-rooted impulses long buried within his blood, to guide his movements. Bandits and rogues armed with spears, clubs, swords and knives surrounded the scar-faced Chuunin, raising their weapons at the same time and moving to attack him at once.

Naruto leapt forward into a roll between one of the bandit's legs, rolling to his feet and stabbing his kunai into the bandit's ribs from behind, right where his heart was located, dropping him dead. The blond Jinchuuriki moved on to the next man, deflecting his panicked sword slash with a kunai-swipe and cutting the bandit's weapon hand off at the wrist. A kunai-thrust under the man's ribcage finished him off as another of the four remaining bandits lashed out with his spear.

Naruto took the body of his recent kill and pivoted around with it, using it as a shield just before a spear-shaft pierced and protruded out the dead man's back, missing Naruto's head by a hand span. He snapped off the spear-blade and buried it into the bandit's chest when he stumbled too close. Snapping his wrist out, Naruto's kunai flew and hit its mark in the eye of one of the last three bandits, killing him instantly.

His hand flashed again, withdrawing two shuriken from his thigh-holster and letting them fly. One hit its mark in one of the retreating bandit's temple, the other opening a gash around the major artery in the last bandit's throat. Both men fell to their knees, dead or dying, it made no difference to Naruto. He was a shinobi, and shinobi took lives. He just found he was very good at it.

A giant of a man rushed from behind his fallen fellows and galloped toward the blond Chuunin, raising a giant cleaver-sword high above his head for a downward stroke with a war-cry. Naruto sheathed his kunais and brought both hands together, gathered blue chakra between his palms into a spiraling sphere, then slammed his Rasengan against the weapon's edge, drilling clean through the thick blade and into the man's chest, leaving a bloody gaping hole where his heart used to be. In a flourish, the spiky-haired blond ninja withdrew his kunais once more and readied for the next opponent as the bandit fell dead with the two sword halves.

Naruto suddenly stopped, hand trembling slightly and feeling numb to his senses. His kunai dropped from his slack fingers, and he clutched his wrist with his free hand with a troubled expression. It was coming on too soon, he had to keep it at bay for just a little longer.

It was no use. Despite his struggle, his hands went into a violent spasm of shaking, veins swelling with blood and fingers curling like claws. No time to stop it.

"KIBA! TAKE HINATA AND GET YOUR ASSES OUTTA HERE _NOW_!!" Naruto couldn't remember yelling more loudly, but it worked in reaching the Inuzuka boy.

Kiba and Akamaru must've sensed the massive killer-intent radiating off of the blond Chuunin, perhaps even smelled the demonic chakra pouring from the seal. Wasting no time to bother with any of the last few dozen bandits, Kiba jumped and landed beside his team mate, grabbed her around her waist and threw her over his shoulder before kicking off the ground toward the fort wall. Hinata was struggling the whole time, desperately hoping to stay and help Naruto who stayed behind. She and the Inuzuka boy disappeared from sight over the tall vertical wall.

The two score bandits remaining alive and standing shuffled about nervously as red chakra continued to boil out from Naruto's body, slowly coalescing around him before receding back into his body, alighting a thousand pinpricks of agony across his flesh from Kyuubi's corrosive chakra.

"_**Ahhh…So good. It feels so damn good out of the seal. But my freedom is temporary –at least for now- and I can't take control of you again. But I will have blood. And you will take if for me. Kill these insects and grant me the satisfaction of their deaths."**_

Naruto struggled to maintain control of his body, but it wouldn't listen to him. Already his primal instincts were taking root into his body's control, turning him into a mindless beast. His fingernails grew and sharpened into talons, while his teeth grew into fangs. His whisker birth-marks deepened, and his blue eye turned red with a vertical pupil like his left one. The scars marring his face also flared into a glowing orange-red as if lit from within his skin.

"_**Don't bother struggling, little whelp. You enjoy killing as much as I do. Don't hold yourself back. Release yourself. Kill these vermin. And let it rain blood!"**_

'_Damn it'_, Naruto mentally cursed, _'I can't…I can't control it. Kyuubi's chakra's overwhelming my senses again. I can't hold it off for very long.' _Naruto's vision grew cloudy in a haze of red. All he could hear was the sound of heartbeats all around him, frantic and fluttering. The coppery, tangy scent of blood drifted into his nostrils, sparking his bloodlust.

His last coherent thought flashed through his mind, praying Dosu would do what he needed to stop him, before his primal instincts smothered all forms of reason.

When the red chakra finally receded back into Naruto's body, Dosu's first thought was whether it was over or not. That hope died when Naruto opened his eyes –glowing red eyes like a demon's- and snarled like a crazed beast. He didn't even give the suddenly pale and terrified bandits the chance to surrender before the blond Chuunin flipped a kunai into each hand and vanished in a blur of motion.

A scream of agony sounded behind Dosu, drawing him to turn and watched one bandit, tall and broad-shouldered with makeshift armor, split in half at the waist before both halves dropped with meaty slaps. Naruto flicked his kunais free of the blood and vanished from sight again; reappearing under the guard of another bandit and splitting open his belly with an upward vertical slice, spilling his innards onto the soil. The man dropped to his knees, vainly clutching his open stomach when Naruto used his kunai and did a back-hand slash, cutting off his head.

The remaining bandits –the few left with any ounce of courage left in them- kicked into a dead-sprint with Naruto's back exposed, thinking to get the upperhand by overwhelming the lone-shinobi with their greater numbers. The rest of the bandits followed suite, emboldened by their comrade's initiative.

A gale of concussive force suddenly knocked every bandit closest to the blond off their feet, landing on their backs hard. Those behind the fallen stumbled to a halt as Naruto spun around in a mad flourish and roared so loudly, the ground beneath his feet fractured and cracked. Then he vanished once more in a blur of motion and proceeded to kill the bandits assembled around him one by one. The air was alive with screams and roars.

Dosu hugged the wooden-log rampart with his back against it, waiting. Fighting against a monster like that head-on would be nothing short of suicide. He doubted he could even wound Naruto in his berserker-state, much less either kill or render him unconscious.

Yet something about how Naruto asked Dosu to stop him struck him as odd. Why would Naruto ask him to stop the blond? Was he anticipating going out of control and going on a killing spree? And was it affected by that red chakra Dosu saw pour from his body?

But there was still the matter of stopping him. One well-placed strike of his Kyomeisan technique would kill Naruto in an instant by destroying his brain with the concentrated sonic vibrations and couldn't be blocked by physical means. Having observed the few minor wounds Naruto received heal just seconds after infliction, the former-Otonin doubted anything less than a head-shot would kill the rampant shinobi.

'_But do I want that?', _Dosu asked himself, staring at his sound-gauntlet uncertainly._ 'Do I want to kill him? I wouldn't have given it a second thought before, but…Why is he so willing to throw away his life? What can he hope to-'_

And then it all became clear. Naruto wanted to deal with the bandits alone so his friends wouldn't see him killing them, nor risk their safety by being around him when succumbing to his rampage. That was why he brought Dosu along with him; in the event he couldn't stop himself, he needed someone to kill him and ensure the safety of his friends. And he must've known neither Kiba nor Hinata would be willing to kill him, being close friends and comrades to the blond. Those were the reasons behind his adamant secrecy at the start of the mission.

But that still left the question of whether he would kill him or not. No one had ever trusted him for such a task, especially during his servitude with Orochimaru back in Otogakure no Sato.

Dosu shook his head. _'No. I won't kill him. Even I do die trying, I won't kill him. It's not right. He trusted me with this task. I won't…I'll stop him, but I won't kill him. Regardless of his earlier distrust of me, ending his life is not the way.' _Priming his gauntlet for the one attack he hoped would render the blond Chuunin unconscious, Dosu leveled it with a clenched grip. "I'm either very brave or extremely stupid for even considering this."

The blond demon vessel just finished with the last bandit by snapping the man's neck like a twig in a one-hand grip. Dosu knew his chance was now, kicking off the earth and sailing above the dead bodies of nearly a hundred bandits before landing in a crouch behind the blond Chuunin.

Naruto spun around so quickly, Dosu nearly had his head removed by a back-hand cross-cut. He leaned back enough to avoid getting beheaded but Naruto's hand shot out and grasped Dosu's shirt collar in a vice grip, raising his knife-hand for the finishing blow.

Except it never came. Naruto's arm wracked with tremors, straining to hold back from burying his kunai into Dosu's chest and killing him. Throughout the struggle, Dosu looked straight into the eyes of the Chuunin with unwavering determination. If Naruto was going to kill him, he would have done so already. Staring into the red eyes of a demon, Dosu still felt the unbridled fear welling inside of him the longer he looked into those hellish eyes.

Naruto's voice reached Dosu's ears, straining against the effort that compelled him to kill. "Remember what…I told you." For a brief instant, his right eye flickered from red to blue. "Do it!"

Dosu nodded, pulling back his gauntlet arm and driving it in Naruto's belly, unleashing a series of sonic vibrations into the seal itself that all but shattered the chakra current supplying the red energy. Naruto gasped at the impact, nearly dropping to his knees as the Kyuubi's chakra dispersed from his chakra coils and freed him from its control. Dosu held Naruto by the shoulders, helping the Chuunin stay on his feet.

Naruto used what little strength left in him to look Dosu straight in the eye with his blue orb with a smile of gratitude. "Thank you."

Then the darkness of oblivion swallowed him.

* * *

"You're offering a position for me in your group?"

The young man nodded. He wasn't any older than thirteen, with ink-black, short-cropped hair and pale-tone complexion. He wore a black vest with his arms and lower belly exposed, as well as matching-color trousers with forearm-grieves. He seemed to be only armed with a short rod holstered at back between his shoulders. "That is correct, although it's actually my master who's interested in having you join our ranks. I'm just a messenger. If I can return with a response as to whether you'll consider this proposition, please tell me now. My master doesn't like to kept waiting for too long unnecessarily."

Uchiha Sasuke observed the newcomer with nothing short of suspicion. Two days ago the young man shadowed the Uchiha since the Konoha Hospital all the way to Training Field 14, observing him until Sasuke had driven the shinobi out of hiding from the forest. Before the Uchiha had even moved to attack the intruder, the newcomer relayed a message from his superiors about wanting Sasuke to join some secret Anbu group called Root. When he asked why his superiors wanted him, the messenger refused to say.

All together, Sasuke didn't trust anything or everything the guy said at face value. For all he knew, this organization would only exploit him for some kind of leverage, and he hated being manipulated more than anything else just to further someone else's own ends. Plus, there was no guarantee that the kind of activities this group was party to were within the parameters of Konohagakure's laws. If anything, this group could be an illegal faction of shinobi that operated outside the Hokage's authority.

Still, given their secrecy, Sasuke didn't think it wise to stir unwanted trouble until he knew what he was up against. He'll give the messenger his reply and try to learn more about them before giving his final answer.

"Tell your superiors that I'll consider their offer for the time being. But I'm not joining any group until I know exactly what they want me for and why. I think you'll know where to find me if your masters want to contact me again." The Root shinobi nodded, crouching in prep to jump away when Sasuke called out, "By the way, I'm curious. What's your name? I'd like to know who I'm talking to, instead of calling you 'the messenger' all the time. Mind at all?"

The shinobi smiled. Sasuke could tell right away it was a fake; everything about this guy was false. "My name's Sai. Goodbye, Uchiha Sasuke." Then Sai vanished in a swirl of leaves. After searching out any hint of the shinobi's presence, Sasuke concluded Sai had left the training grounds. Without another thought to his strange encounter, he went back to his training.

Nearly four hours later, after he'd finished testing the limits of his Chidori technique in another location, Sasuke made his way back to his home in the near-deserted Uchiha district where his clan had once occupied. It was nighttime and the street lights were lit. The Uchiha had encountered few people on the way to his family's compound, a blessing to him considering he didn't have to endure any senseless chatter with strangers wanting to talk to him just for his prestige and heritage. It grew damn tiring after the first few weeks after his clan's genocide.

Passing the stone gates of his family's manor, Sasuke took a second to scan the whole structure, as he always did upon returning to his abandoned home. The surrounding compound was like that of a rustic Japanese, low-leveled structure with open hallways, sliding shoji doors, and hard wood floors and walls. At the center of the surrounding complex, the main building was where Sasuke's apartment was located, being much more modern in structure and appearance. His apartment was on the top floor.

Shrugging off his sweaty clothes Sasuke tossed them on his large bed and went to his bathroom, stepping into his shower stall. He switched on the hot water and let the near-scalding liquid drench him, cleaning all the grime and sweat off his skin.

So absorbed into the soothing sensations of his hot shower, Sasuke's mind wandered. But it wasn't long before his thoughts strayed toward his blond team mate, turning his mood into a seething rage.

Why? Why did the fool who couldn't even execute a decent and simple Bunshin no Jutsu, called the class clown for more than three years in the Genin Ninja Academy, become so much stronger than any other Genin than he'd ever imagined being capable of; shown more power than anything he'd ever actually seen anyone unleash? What sort of power did he possess that remained hidden for so long only to come out and reveal itself in those life-or-death events that seemed forever engraved in Sasuke's memories?

During the Battle for the Bridge in the Land of Waves fighting against Haku, Orochimaru disguised as a Kusa-nin during the Chuunin Exam in the Forest of Death, and against Gaara during the Sound/Sand invasion attack outside the village in the forest outskirts, Sasuke had seen for himself the power Naruto could unleash when called upon.

But these incidences were not what drove his anger, though Naruto's victory against Gaara still left Sasuke feeling conflicted emotions of envy and jealousy for his power. No, what drove Sasuke's true anger was when Itachi attempted to abduct Naruto for some purpose, and completely disregarded his younger brother's presence as inconsequential and almost contemptuously beat him down with ease when the younger Uchiha rushed at Itachi with his strongest Chidori, to no effect. His arm was broken for his effort.

Clutching his wrist where Itachi had broken it before, Sasuke didn't even feel the hot water anymore. By instinct and reflex, his Sharingan flared into life in his eyes; a red iris containing two tomoe in each eye. It should be him with that power. Uzumaki didn't need it; didn't even deserve it. But he, Uchiha Sasuke, needed that power to fight and kill Itachi.

But there was still the issue of the nature of Naruto's power. He couldn't risk revealing his intent by asking the blond himself, nor could he ask anyone from the higher-ranks. Based on how secretive they were regarding Naruto past and everything, they probably knew the nature of his power and how to obtain it.

An idea struck Sasuke's attention. What if the organization called Root had information about Naruto they'd be willing to share with its members? The possibility was highly promising, especially given their interest in recruiting him. Another promising aspect of joining Root meant he'd be sent on more missions and gain more experience; gain a greater rank under another authority figure's jurisdiction outside the Hokage's authority. He might not like having to obey orders himself, but the benefits certainly outweighed the minor cons.

Pleased with his new opportunities presented before him, Sasuke turned off the hot water and stepped out the shower stall, dried himself, dressed in a blue high-collar shirt and black shorts, and went to his bedroom with a king-size bed and television.

"Hello Sasuke. Mind at all we have a chat?"

The Uchiha prodigy didn't jump, nor was he surprised he hadn't sensed the newcomer's presence. Being a highly skilled Jounin gave one unbelievable skills in stealth. He just hadn't expected to hear from his team leader. "Do you know the term 'Breaking and Entering', Kakashi? I'm told it's an offense and a violation to one's rights of privacy."

Stepping out of the shadows from Sasuke's balcony behind the curtains, a tall, thin man entered Sasuke's room. His hair was silver, upright and unruly with his hitai-ate around his head but slanted down, covering his left eye. He wore black trousers, long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and a green flak-vest. His one visible eye was slightly droopy, as if perpetually bored and lazy. The lower half of his face from his nose to his chin and neck was hidden under a pitch black face-mask.

Sasuke wasn't in the mood to deal with whatever Hatake Kakashi had to tell him, especially so late and after he had his shower. "What do you want, Kakashi? Couldn't this wait 'till morning?"

Kakashi the Copy Nin didn't answer Sasuke at first, stepping into the threshold and seating himself on one of the few comfortable chairs in the room. "Did you hear about Naruto getting promoted to Chuunin?"

Now he had Sasuke's attention. "Why did he get promoted to Chuunin? Who else-"

"I never said Uzumaki was the only Genin promoted. Nara Shikamaru was also promoted, and as far I know, they're the only Genin from Konoha to earn the rank. I don't know how the other participating Genin fared, but I'll explain why only Nara and Uzumaki were promoted.

"Basically, since the Chuunin Tournament was cut short because of the Oto/Suna invasion, all the Jounin squad leaders –including myself- were to give our own recount of the matches between our students to determine who would be best qualified for the rank, including the preliminaries. The other reason was because our task force was nearly cut down by a third during the attack, and we needed to fill as many positions as we could for the village's safety.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but only Naruto and Shikamaru met requirements because they showed more strategy and improvisation when fighting their opponents. Before you go biting my head off, you did show great skill fighting Gaara and that other guy –what's his name? Yoroi; that's right. But neither the Council nor the Hokage saw that as Chuunin material.

"I even tried to encourage the Council to promote you as well since you'd make an excellent asset to doing field missions, but the Council couldn't afford to hand out ranks and show undue favoritism because of your heritage. I'm surprised Naruto didn't tell you all this himself when he was at the hospital –I imagine Tsunade-sama must've explained the details to him."

No, Naruto didn't explain anything to him, because he never dropped by his wardroom, otherwise Sakura would have told him about it after he woke up. That struck the Uchiha as strange considering Naruto's near obsession for Sakura's attention, given how often he vied for her affection throughout the assembly of Team 7 nearly ten months ago at the Genin Training Academy.

'That dobe's suddenly getting very secretive and distant. I wonder what happened since that fight with Itachi and me. Did he learn something he doesn't want anyone to know about? Does it have something to do with Itachi himself?'

That last thought drew another question. He turned to Kakashi. "Where is Naruto now? Is he at home?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know where he is right now, only he's not in the village. Two days ago Hokage-sama sent him along with Kiba, Hinata, and someone else I didn't recognize on a mission, though the details weren't disclosed. From what I heard it's a B-class assignment, issued by the Daimyo himself."

Sasuke snorted, smirking. "I won't be surprised that idiot comes back failing his mission badly. He can't do a decent assignment without making some dumb mistake. It's a wonder he got promoted; I wouldn't be surprised if the Hokage gave him the rank because she likes him."

Kakashi's relaxed expression flashed to hard and angry in an instant. "That's going too far, Sasuke. Perhaps Naruto isn't like you, but he's earned his rank through nothing but hard work, not favoritism. Don't let your jealousy of his promotion or your bitterness with Itachi cloud your judgment-"

Kakashi's rebuttal was cut short when Sasuke made a wild jump toward his Jounin sensei, clutching the collar of the Copy Nin's flak-vest in a white-knuckled grip, bringing both crashing to the floor with Kakashi on his back. Above him, Sasuke's face was contorted into a vicious, hateful snarl.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL?!" Sasuke yelled, angry beyond reason. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT'S IT LIKE TO WATCH YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY GET SLAUGHTERED IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES, HELPLESS, BY YOUR OWN BROTHER?!" His voice lowered into a hiss. "You're right about one thing, though. I _**am **_bitter about what happened when I fought Itachi. But don't you dare patronize me about it! You don't know what I saw when-"

"On the contrary, Itachi did the same thing to me, hours before you visited my recovery room." Kakashi didn't raise his voice, but Sasuke heard every word clearly. "An entire lifetime of torture you experience, yet barely a few seconds go by in reality. That's the power of the Magenkyo Sharingan from your own clan, Sasuke. That's what happens when such power is used in the hands of the corrupt and the cruel."

Kakakashi's eye turned to a frown. "But that's no excuse to go about belittling others or insulting them without reason to. I've been a Jounin longer than you've been alive, and I've seen many terrible things happen not only to allies and enemies alike, but my friends as well. All of them are dead today, another list of names engraved on the stone to our fallen shinobi. So to answer your earlier question, I would know a thing or two about how terrible it feels watching those close to you die in front of your eyes. Especially in war."

Gently prying Sasuke's hands off his collar, Kakashi stood up and dusted himself off, heading to the balcony. He could tell already he over-extended his stay. "Tomorrow you and I are going on a mission –just us two- to scout around the borders between Konoha and the neighboring countries. Some information came to the Hokage just a few hours ago from Jiraiya about border disputes and heavy military activity. We leave tomorrow at sunrise, so pack your supplies for week, if more.

"Goodnight, Sasuke. And think on what I've told you."

And just like that, in a flicker of motion, Kakashi vanished. The curtains rustled from the stray nightwinds, bringing a chill breeze. He promptly closed and locked the balcony door before switching off the lights.

Outside, Kakashi watched from the rooftops as Sasuke's light turned off, and he felt a pang of regret not only for what he was sure would change between his students, but also the fact that he might have been cause of it all.

"There's nothing helping it anymore." Kakashi whispered to himself. "I ignored Naruto and Sakura to train Sasuke, to try to change his perspective about revenge. Now they're all drifting apart. And I'm a fool for being so negligent."

* * *

"How long do you plan to resist the Kyuubi before you're consumed by his power?"

Naruto stared at Doki acidly. "As long as I have to."

Inside the near-total dark prison cell containing the demon fox, said nine-tailed spirit was slumbering while Naruto and his split-persona talked outside the cage containing the sealed demon. The only meager light came from the fire-lit torches on the smooth walls. As always, the knee-high water was chilling, yet neither complained. They were above such petty concerns anymore.

Doki tilted his head to one side, smirking as always. "You do know your friends will grow suspicious. Especially your change of attitude, your way of thinking. I wouldn't be surprised; you're now a totally different person as a result of merging with me."

"To who's benefit?" Naruto shot back, not at all amused. "And I thought you said merging with me would keep the Kyuubi from possessing me anymore?"

"I said nothing of the sort. Our merger only freed from Kyuubi's influence when the demon himself took possession of you, not when his chakra overwhelms your senses; that in itself is inevitable. As I said before, the Kyuubi's chakra is yours because you both share the same body, but your mind can't handle the strain of demonic chakra without turning into an animal yourself.

"Besides, there's nothing that can be done about the Kyuubi's chakra flooding into your system. The seal imprisoning Kyuubi is slowly breaking down—as is was meant to from the beginning."

Naruto didn't bother asking how Doki knew that –he wouldn't be surprised he learned that from the Kyuubi himself, without the demon knowing- but the news still left him feeling helpless. What could he do if the seal did break down completely, leaving himself open and exposed to the Kyuubi's control?

But then there was another way he could suppress the demon's chakra. The method was outlandish, but it had worked on him before. He'd have to remember to ask for Jiraiya when he returned to Konoha.

Doki was still talking, particularly about what happened only hours ago. "Another thing I'm surprised about –no, I'm still bewildered about it- is when you actually asked that Dosu Kinuta, formerly an Oto-nin and henchman for Orochimaru, to stop you when you lost control, told him to kill you if that's what it took. Am I the only one between us who sees that as both one of the most dumbest requests every proposed, and a blessed miracle he agreed to it? Not only that, but went through with it and succeeded? Tell me if I'm right."

"You're not wrong, but that was my only option. I couldn't ask Kiba or Hinata to do it. Kiba would just demand answers I could give away at the time, and I didn't trust Hinata to actually consider harming me. Besides, they're my friends. I didn't want to risk their safety if it went wrong."

"So was Dosu just an instrument to you at the time? An expendable tool you were willing to risk being harmed if the worst happened?"

"……"

"I'll take your silence as a yes. Still, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Zabuza once told you before he died fighting his employer and his thugs, back in the Land of Waves: Everyone uses someone else. That's part of what being a shinobi is. So you have no reason to feel guilty over it; especially since Dosu chose not to kill you. I think he has a certain kinship with you."

Naruto considered that for a moment thoughtfully. "Do you think he's trustworthy?"

Doki shrugged. "Who can say? Is it just an act, a temporary acquiesce? Does he have a hidden agenda, or some self-motivated objective? Or is he really someone whom wants to start over? Mind you, I think he'll be a great ally. For one, he only acted on the snake-bastard's orders, and he never really attacked us as a personal affront. But like I said, it's difficult to say so soon.

"Just don't let your guard down. There's no telling what else is happening right now in Konoha that might prove to be a serious problem. I always get these intuitions when something major is about to happen."

Naruto made a mirthless chuckle. "I certainly could've used some of that 'intuition' to warn about the Oto/Suna Invasion."

"War is often inevitable. There's no stopping it; just postponing it until someone else takes charge and everything goes to hell. Even if someone knows what's gonna happen, some things can't be changed or stopped. There are only two choices and two outcomes when that happens: Fight, or retreat; Kill or be killed. There are no middle grounds when it comes to being a shinobi. You either commit to it, and accept everything about it that comes with it, or choose never to become one in the first place."

Naruto nodded, thankful for that wise advice, yet he couldn't help but grin. "You should give a speech like this to every aspiring shinobi. Were you actually paying attention to Iruka-sensei's lectures when I wasn't?"

"Listening to lectures is a little difficult when you're skipping class half the time you bothered to attend in the earlier years in the Academy. That, along with your frequent naps and snacking periods. But no, I didn't get it from Iruka. Just a little something I pulled together myself in my spare time, when thinking is the only thing you can do in 'Limbo'. And trust me when I say I had a lot of time to spare."

Something stirred in the back of Naruto's perception, a tug on his consciousness trying to pull him from his mind's recesses. "I'm leaving here soon. Seems we'll have to cut our time short."

"Good luck. And trust me when I say you'll be needing it."

* * *

The first thing Naruto noticed when he opened his eyes was the sore pain he felt in his gut. A muffled groan left his throat as he pulled himself up into a seating position. Dosu's last blow was going to leave him feeling sore in the morning (and maybe every following morning for a week).

"About time you awoke."

Naruto turned to his left to the voice. Dosu was leaning against a tree, his gauntlet nowhere to be seen while his body was highlighted in garish orange light, while everything else was pitch black in shadows. It was then that Naruto noticed how dark out it was. The clouds overhead completely blotted out the crescent moon, and the only source of light came from a campfire nearly paces away, where Kiba was standing guard and Hinata was sleeping, along with the freed captives. Thankfully, Kiba hadn't noticed he was awake yet, and he hoped he could avoid any questions put forth from the Inuzuka.

Naruto turned back to Dosu. "How long was I out?"

"Just a couple hours. Kiba and Hinata-san were worried you'd been badly injured, but I told them it was nothing serious; just exhaustion. All the women and children are accounted for, and I think it's another few hours till sunrise. How are you feeling?"

Naruto made a sour face, exasperated at Dosu's dumb question. "I feel like hammered shit; how the fuck do you think I feel after that last blow you gave me?"

Dosu didn't seem apologetic, nor did he seem guilty. Naruto felt his respect for former-Otonin rise. "Be grateful I didn't hit you with a stronger attack. The strike I hit you with was only meant to administer concentrated vibrations into your chakra coils; the other method I could have used was liquefy your organs."

Grimacing at the very unpleasant imaginary image of his insides turning to soupy chunks, Naruto tried to change the subject – if a little from it. "At least you stopped me. I'm surprised you didn't outright kill me after what I told you. Wouldn't that be easier?"

Dosu turned serious at Naruto's mention of that very same option he'd considered himself when the blond Chuunin went berserk on the bandits. "Because…killing you would've been a mistake."

At Naruto's confused stare, Dosu elaborated. "The fact is, your trust in me back there compelled me to repay you for that faith. Truth be told, no one has ever trusted me in my whole life being a shinobi, especially since I'd been used as nothing but a tool to Orochimaru in all my years in service to him. Then that's when I came to a conclusion."

"And that was?"

Dosu made a whimsical grin. "I have nowhere to go. No place to call home. Otogakure has tossed me out, and even if I was free to go wherever, I'd still be alone. And really, I'm just tired of it all. Tired of following the orders of deranged psychopaths and questioning my own decisions. It's just…I feel like I was meant to serve a master, someone who could make use of my skills and abilities and respect me for it. I think Konoha will be a great home for me –at least for now- until I can find my own path.

"So, I guess until that happens, you are my master."

Naruto stared at Dosu. He blinked, silent and astonished. "What?"

"Did I stutter?"

Naruto understood clearly what the sound-user said, he just didn't understand the reasons behind them. "What makes you think I would make a better master than Orochimaru?"

"Because both you and I have a score to settle with that snake-bastard. He decided to use me as just a guinea pig to test Uchiha Sasuke's potential, and nearly killed my team mates by using them against your Hokage –not the Godaime, but Sarutobi, from what Tsunade-sama told me- and I want revenge. I believe you and I could reach our goals by working together. It's just a choice I made out of necessity, not personal preference."

Naruto laughed. "Basically, I'm your best choice? Wow, and here I had nothing to worry about."

Dosu's expression turned serious, cutting off Naruto's laugh. "It's because you're the only one who's willing to even trust me. I'm not asking you to be my friend; I'm asking to serve as your shinobi and make use of my abilities."

Naruto sighed. There seemed no way to dissuade Dosu when he made his choice. "Alright. But don't expect any pleasant living arrangements in my apartment, 'cause it's a mess. And don't give me too formal titles like 'sama' or 'boss'. Use 'san' though if you want to."

Dosu nodded, accepting. "Agreed."

Out of the shadows of the firelight, Kiba strode over with Akamaru tucked in his hooded sweater. His expression was cross. "Alright, Uzumaki. Isn't it about time you tell us all what the hell happened back there? I think we deserve an explanation."

Behind the Inuzuka, Hinata came up quietly while fiddling with her fingers nervously. Naruto found it a little eerie how her pale lavender eyes glowed slightly in the dark. "Are you alright, Naruto-kun? What happened to you?"

Helpless, Naruto closed his eyes, trying to find the answer to what he should do. _'Should I tell them, Doki? Will keeping everything a secret from them cause more harm or good in the long run?'_

In his mind, Naruto heard Doki say, _'Do what you must. Better they know the truth now than later, when everything goes downhill. Just don't tell them about me, at least not yet. That's a bridge we'll cross and burn when we get to it.'_

Naruto sighed. He turned to Dosu at his side, wondering what he thought. When the former Oto-nin shrugged, the blond Chuunin felt it was too soon to tell them. He didn't want to risk their friendship with him if he revealed his secret, but there was still the possibility of earning their distrust if he stayed silent. What could he do?

Tugging at his hitai-ate, Naruto casted a meaningful glance toward Hinata, hoping she understood he didn't want to explain yet. She caught his glance and nodded slightly, though she still looked troubled. She already saw his Kyuubi's eye through his Genjutsu earlier, but she hadn't pressed the issue at the time, considering they were pressed for time to finish their mission. He just hoped it would stay that way for just a little longer until he found Jiraiya and did what he needed to do.

"I can't tell you." Naruto said to Kiba. "At least not now. There's too much…It's complicated. And even I don't know everything involved, so I can't give any honest answers now. Just wait until we reach Konoha and Tsunade can explain. Besides, I don't know how you'll take it. And…I don't want to lose you all as my friends."

Yawning slightly and scratching his neck, Naruto said, "As for me, I'd like to have a nap before the sun rises. So goodnight-"

"Fine!" Kiba snapped. "It's one thing to keep something secret if you think it's important, but how about at least telling us who the hell this guy is!" He pointed at Dosu, who started having a glaring contest with the Inuzuka boy and a visible vein was swelling in their temples.

"Ah! Right; I never did introduce you all to him!" Naruto laughed, scratching at his hair. "This is Dosu Kinuta, formerly an Otonin but now working under Tsunade herself. He was on the Genin team that attacked my team during the Second Stage of the Chuunin Exam."

"Wait a sec! You mean to tell us we've been working next to an enemy? And you went off alone with him when he could have killed you with your back turned or when you were asleep? And you were gonna tell us WHEN exactly about this little detail? Before or after we might've been killed in our sleep?!"

Naruto started laughing nervously. "Well, it…kind of slipped my mind, since I was a little preoccupied with the mission-"

"Forget it, Naruto! I'm gonna sleep since my guard-shift is over, but when we get back to Konoha, I'm so gonna enjoy beating your ass for this. You can count on it!" And without another word, Kiba stomped over to his sleeping bag and lied down, muttering under his breath for a good five minutes until only snores came out of his mouth.

Glancing around nervously once more, Hinata said, "Um, g-good night Naruto-kun, Dosu-san. Sleep well." The Hyuuga heiress then shuffled off and slipped into her own sleeping bag and fell asleep, though she certainly took her time getting comfortable.

Dosu turned to Naruto. "Well, that could've gone better."

"Or worse. Let's just hope that there won't be any more trouble on the way home. I for one feel ready for a decent bath and tasty meal once we get back."

"Seconded. Get some rest. I'll stand watch till the sun rises."

Naruto thanked Dosu and lied back onto his sleeping bag. As his eyes grew heavy, he wondered _'What could happen next?'_

* * *

The samurai, Kaido Mura, stood at the head of his war party, dressed in his preferred black robes and hakama with his trusted katanas sheathed at his hip. His skin was dusky brown like earth, and his long, tangled brown hair flew about wildly in the passing breeze. His features were harshly chiseled and lean with a wolfish face.

His men, numbering over two hundred total, trudged behind and kept their distance at three yards length, as he told them very early on in their "employment". He preferred to have his own space, enough to swing his swords without some nitwit straying to close during an attack and getting his head cut off by accident. As much as Mura liked slaying his enemies with his sword, he found it a particular waste to kill off his own men if it could be helped. He needed them, after all, for maintaining communication and acting as scouts when he himself was busy with other concerns.

Namely of which were a flock of crows, vultures, and other carrion birds circling above one of his outposts.

Mura's face twisted into a frown. Based on the tell-tale signs he already noticed –along with the unmistakable stench of blood, rot, and dead bodies carried by the wind- he could tell the sight awaiting him at his stronghold wasn't going to be pleasant. Giving the signal to carry one, his men followed behind him as they made their way down the shallow slopes in the mid-afternoon heat toward the fort.

The first thing Mura came to find upon reaching the fort-gates was the tied body of some thin, scraggly-haired rouge with a hawkish nose. The samurai saw the man still breathing lightly, meaning he was alive but unconscious. He nodded to one of his men to rouse the bound bandit and cut him loose as he and his remaining soldiers marched into the fort, shoving open the heavy wooden doors.

Outside the fort, it was pristine and untouched. But immediately upon entering the walls of the outpost, a stench of rot, decay, blood, and effluvia threatened to choke anyone susceptible to the odor. Bodies were piled onto one another in front of the barracks –or what was left of it, since it looked by all appearances to have destroyed by a bomb- which most were just charred, ashen husks. Evidently, someone had taken an effort to try and burn most of the bodies, but fell short midway through their job.

The walls were even worse. Every wall was practically painted with smears of red and rust-brown, where bloody hands dragged nightmarish streaks down the wooden walls' surfaces. Mura kicked aside a dismembered leg next to an eviscerated corpse with his organs spilled around his legs, lying on his side.

A great big mess and over a hundred men now dead and unusable for his plans. Mura could tell at a glance that whoever had done this ensured there were no survivors (sans the tied-up bandit left outside the fort) and meant to deliver a message. The only question that remained was who did it.

"Mura-sama! The man who was bound; say's his name's Koiban! He says he saw who did this."

Turning around to face the speaker and the freed captive –Koiban was his name- Mura strode over and glared down at the thin, frail man. "Describe the ones that did this."

After a few moments of struggling to keep his voice steady, Koiban tried to go into detail of the attackers. "Sh-shinobi. I-I don't know from where, though: they didn't show their headbands to me. One was a spiky-haired blond, with a scarred face and just a boy; maybe thirteen or more. His accomplice was around the same age, brown hair and wore an eye-patch over his right eye and had large gauntlet on his arm. Another was a young girl, just as young. Her hair was dark but her skin was pale, and so were her eyes-"

"A Hyuuga." Mura guessed, familiar with one of the most infamous clans of Konoha. "Any others?"

"Just another boy, kinda feral-lookin' with a small dog. Kinda reminded me of dog himself, the way he went about sniffing anything."

Mura muttered under his breath, irritated. Without a doubt, shinobi of Konohagakure were sent here to retaliate against them after hearing of the recent attacks on remote villages around the Country of Fire's borders. Worse yet, they took the captive villagers with them, meaning there was the risk of one of the villagers freed from their imprisonment would inform Konoha about their plans, since there was always that slim chance of his men being overheard when passing along orders.

The samurai turned back to Koiban. "Why do you suppose they let you live? Any guesses?" Koiban stayed silent, too afraid to incur Mura's wrath if he revealed his cooperation with the shinobi to spare his life. He shook his head and hoped the samurai wouldn't kill him.

Mura was about to order his men to gather any weapons scattered around amongst the bodies, when he heard someone shout a curse from behind. He turned around in a flash, drawing his katana in an instant and bringing it to bear when he saw what made one of his men shout. He growled an oath under his breath at what he saw.

Written in flowing katanaka, a message was smeared onto the flat surface of the door's interior inside a large spiral, likely painted with red paint since it hadn't tarnished into a rust brown like blood would when drying up. The message read:

_**A gift to anyone claiming**_

_**Ownership to the corpses around you.**_

_**Let these bodies serve as your first and only warning.**_

_**If you bring violence to the innocent in these lands,**_

_**Then Konoha will bring you to your destruction.**_

_**Ta-ta!**_

_**Courtesy of the Ichigan no Youko of Konoha.**_

Under the spiraled message, a fox head was drawn grinning, wearing an eyepatch.

A message, Mura knew, to taunt them and give a warning. In a fit of rage, Mura lashed out with his katana by cutting the thick, wooden doors into pieces, so quickly his cuts appeared only as crescent-shaped glimmers, mixed with the sound of whipping and slicing. Sheathing his sword, Mura stepped back as the large wooden doors fell apart. Around him, his henchmen gawked with awe and fear at his swordwork. To them, it was too fast to even see what he did. It happened in less than a second.

"ALRIGHT, YOU WORTHLESS WHORESONS!!" Mura shouted, causing all his men to flinch from the high volume.

"GET ANY WEAPONS SCATTERED AROUND AND PILE UP THE BODIES! WE'ER BURNING DOWN THIS FORT AND EVERYTHING IN IT! TIME TO MOVE ON!!"

While his henchmen scrambled around to gather anything of use, Mura strode angrily over under the shade of the ruined stables' overhanging roof. He pulled out a cloth from his sleeve and wiped away the slight bit of sweat on his forehead from the humidity, wondering what to do next.

'_I need to inform Hidan about this. If he finds out himself we lost our men here, he'll probably have me killed by his superiors.' _Mura thought to himself.

"You think I'll kill you for this setback?"

Mura knew the voice behind him all-too-well, though it wasn't fear or apprehension that made him grip his katana hilt. It was only an instinctive reaction when someone came too close.

Turning around slowly, Mura came face to face with a handsome man with silver-gray hair slicked back, wearing a pitch-black cloak with red clouds on it and a hitai-ate with a horizontal slash etched across the three diagonal lines, the symbol of Yugakure no Sato. In his right hand was a three-bladed scythe, one blade set atop another with a braided rope attached to the hilt. On his left hand's ring finger, a single ring with a black kanji was inscribed onto it. Around his neck was a necklace, holding a small steel ring surrounding a triangle.

Mura bowed, removing his hand off his sword hilt. "I take it you won't need an explanation, given on what's around us, Hidan. Is there any trouble on your end?"

The Akatsuki Nukenin smirked, flipping around his scythe before setting it on his shoulder. "No trouble aside from the minor snag, you know how it is. No plan is perfect. Anyway, what happened here, aside from the obvious?"

"One of my men were taken hostage by the attackers and said they were shinobi, four of them to be exact: A blond Chuunin boy, a Hyuuga girl, an Inuzuka boy, and another boy wearing an eyepatch and a gauntlet on his right arm. He said they attacked at midnight and used one of their own to cause a distraction while the rest of their party evacuated the prisoners."

"At least your men proved their usefulness better than the trash littered around us." Hidan said offhandedly at the corpses, as if just talking about what he had for dinner last night. Mura wouldn't be surprised if he talked about rape and torture with equal aplomb. "Anyway, I came on orders from my master to give you these instructions." Hidan opened his cloak and handed Mura a black scroll tied in rope. "Insure no one sees these plans. Follow them to the letter, then burn it after you're done with it. We have a schedule to keep if our plan is to work right."

Mura cautiously accepted the scroll. "And just what is this 'plan' your organization has implemented? Anything I need to know?"

Hidan smiled. Mura found an immediate disliking to it. "The less you know, the more likely neither I nor my associates will have to kill you should our plan become compromised. Just follow the instructions and you and your men will be handsomely rewarded. I need to run another errand, so I'll be going now. You know how to reach me."

Mura watched Hidan back-step into the shadows of the stables, vanishing like a wraith in the dark. Shaking his head at the Akatsuki agent's senseless display of theatrics, Mura went back to regroup with his men and move on to their next destination:

Iwagakure no Sato.

* * *

"Pick up the pace, Sasuke. We're only a few hours away from reaching the country border."

Had said Uchiha any breath to spare, he would've told Kakashi to shove that comment up a very unpleasant place. Still, given that they were still inside the border of Konoha's territory, Sasuke trudged on with his heavy shouldered pack, wiping away the sweat from his eyes. He leapt to another tree branch, landing in a crouch, before jumping off once more, trying (with growing difficulty) to keep up with his sensei's pace.

For two days, Sasuke and Kakashi had only gone in the direction north-west, and frankly Sasuke was ready snap with impatience. Special training or not that Kakashi promised on this little trip of theirs, the young Uchiha swore he would die of boredom. They hadn't come across any trouble yet, aside from the stray rogue ninja or would-be bandit, but they hadn't yet encountered anything interesting. Besides, having to run through a forest that practically blanketed every square mile in Konoha's territory with trees all around them left much to be desired for a change of scenery. Sasuke had seen enough green for a while.

The one thing Sasuke _**was **_gratefull for, Kakashi hadn't brought up anything about their..."altercation" back at his apartment, nor showed any type of bitterness because of it (though Sasuke could admit to himself he still felt more than a little upset about it.) That was one subject he had no intention of wanting to be brought to debate ever again, especially since he showed just how quickly his calm and collected composure could shatter in an instant when his brother was mentioned.

"Are there any other villages nearby the border?" Sasuke called to Kakashi, drifting through mid-air from their last jump.

Landing lightly, Kakashi replied. "Only two villages: Ami-Kuragakure no Sato, and Kurohane no Sato. There used to be a Kagerou no Sato, but it had been destroyed by Konoha after they attempted a surprise attack some twenty years ago. Ami-Kuragakure and Kurohane are now no more than rural towns comprising only a handful of shinobi left after they've continued warring with each other for dominance on the country border. They're a rather vicious and cut-throat community who won't even hesitate to kill a child if need be. After all, I've seen them do just that."

Suppressing the chill that went down his spine, Sasuke shook away the awful image. "Why hadn't Konoha stepped in and destroyed them if they might've been fighting during the Great Shinobi War? Are they our enemies? Or allies?"

"Neither. Some thirty years ago, Sandaime-sama had approached both village leaders from each town and negotiated a truce with them. The agreement was that these three villages guarded the border from outsiders and refrained from attacking Konoha, then we would give them needed supplies like metals for weapons, clothes, and medicines every two months, and leave them to their conflict without interference or aiding either village."

"Let me guess," Sasuke mused, jumping off the ground again and drifting through mid-air next to Kakashi. "Kagerou wanted more, started demanding assistance from Konoha, then attacked after they were denied their demands."

"Exactly. After Kagerou no Sato was destroyed and all its shinobi killed, Ami-Kuragakure and Kurohanegakure withdrew from the contract and have stayed isolated ever since, occasionally ransacking a supply caravan or two every two or three months. Thus far, they haven't directly attacked Konoha or its shinobi yet, but I imagine it's only a matter of time." The Copy Nin went silent once done with his explanation.

Sasuke couldn't help but shake his head in wonder. Politics. They cause more deaths and inspire more greed than war alone ever could.

Another two hours later, Kakashi called to a halt, landing on the grassy forest floor lightly. "Alright Sasuke, let's break here for camp tonight. We'll reach Iwa's borders by tomorrow, so set up your tent and go look for a stream nearby for water and fish to cook tonight. I'll gather firewood and see if I can find a hare or two."

"Okay. Be right back." Sasuke waved away at Kakashi as he dropped his pack on the ground, not even bothering to set up his tent as he ventured into the forest in search of a river or stream. He figured he'd set his tent after he got back.

Some twenty minutes later, Sasuke sensed some five or more chakra signatures and surround him, followed by dozens of shurikens flying out from the tree tops and bushes, all aimed at him. Using a Kawarimi no Jutsu, Sasuke's image faded as the shurikens embedded into a substituted chunk of wood which dropped to the ground riddled with star-shaped knives.

Carefully hidden in the bushes, Sasuke followed paths of the thrown shurikens and traced them back to several places, using his glowing-red Sharingan to bring back exact memory. Three in the trees, two in the bushes, and one under cover of a Genjutsu. One of the assailants was actually right above him, crouched on a branch but none the wiser to his location. He'd be the first one to go.

Leaping straight up and hooking his hands around the branch, Sasuke allowed his momentum to swing his body into a spin as he heel-kicked the figure in the chest, sending the person flying off the branch to land painfully hard on their back. Simultaneously releasing the branch and letting the inertia propel him through the air, Sasuke's hands flashed through several familiar hand-seals, ending with the Tiger sign and inhaled a lung-full of air.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A giant ball of fire, nearly three meters wide, blasted out from Sasuke's mouth, surging toward the exposed base of a tree trunk. A black-garbed figure dropped his hiding Genjutsu shroud and leapt high above the flaming sphere just seconds before it hit the tree and exploded into a fire storm around the forest, burning leaves, wood and grass like kindling. Somersaulting in mid-air, the assailant was above the air-borne Uchiha with a ninjato in hand and raised it high for a downward stroke, swinging the blade in a deadly arc toward Sasuke's midsection and cutting the boy in half at the waist.

POOF! The illusion surrounding the substituted log dispersed, popping like a smokey bubble, and the two log pieces dropped to the ground. The black-garbed assailant cursed under his breath upon landing, vexed that his prey escaped using a Kawarimi no Jutsu. Where did he-

"It's over, loser." A voice hissed behind him before he heard -and felt- a sickening CRUNCH before his vision faded. The assailant dropped like a sac of meat, a kunai embedded in the back of his head.

After making sure he was dead, Sasuke twisted his knife out of the shinobi's skull and wiped it clean of blood on the assailant's tunic. Reholstering his kunai at his thigh, Sasuke gripped the shinobi's black mask and ripped it off. A metal mask-piece covered the man's mouth, but the two-stone symbol engraved on the headband shield labeled him as a shinobi of Iwagakure no Sato. Strolling over to the prone but still alive shinobi Sasuke had knocked out first, he removed the mask off the figure -a rather pretty, ebon-haired woman at that- and found she too wore an Iwa headband. A second glance beside her head showed a rock embedded in the soil, slightly stained with red where the kunoichi's head must've hit on impact.

Bringing chakra into his eyes, Sasuke activated his bloodline Sharingan, a red iris with two floating commas rotating around the pupil. He did a periphery scan around the area to check for chakra signatures or tell-tale glows of energy, but saw nothing around him. Had there been anyone else hiding behind a Genjutsu shroud, his eyes would have seen right through it. Perhaps the rest of the shinobi fled after their second comrade fell from Sasuke's skills. He let his Sharingan fade back into his blood and his eyes returned to their dark black color.

After managing to bind the woman's hands and feet with some loops of garrote wire, Sasuke trudged back to the camp ground with the Iwa kunoichi slung over his shoulder. Despite her size, she was surprisingly light. He hadn't bothered to do anything with the corpse where it dropped, so one less package to lug around. Maybe Kakashi could get some information out of the woman using his Sharingan once she awoke.

Passing around some trees and bushes, the camp site came to view, with none other than Kakashi himself sitting by the fire with two hares skinned and roasting over the open flame. One stark difference was there were four unconscious bodies piled atop one another right beside him, which Sasuke would guess were the rest of the squad members that tried to ambush him. Based on Kakashi's appearance and looking no worse for wear, he must've had little trouble dealing with them.

"Hey Sasuke," Kakashi waved, jovial as ever. "Ran into a little trouble trying to find fish and water?"

Sasuke was in no such mood for jokes. "These guys are Iwa-nins, possibly a scouting or infiltration party. I'm willing to bet they were headed toward Konoha."

Kakashi didn't seem fazed by the statement. He too had considered the same possibility. "And where there's a scouting party, there's a heavy infantry waiting just three steps behind them; which leads to only one certain outcome:"

"War." Sasuke finished, understanding Kakashi's train of thought.

Kakashi stood up off from the rock he was sitting on and grabbed one of the cooking rabbits, tossing it to Sasuke. "Better eat up while we have time. We'll need to head back to Konoha before nightfall to inform Hokage-sama about this." He nudged at one of the prone bodies with his toe. "And unfortunately, we won't be going back without company."

Sasuke groaned, feeling ready to collapse. It was tiring as is coming all this way with only his essential equipment and supplies, but having a dead-weight body over his shoulder the whole way was going to be hell.

Then again, it could be worse, he thought to himself while taking a large bite out of the cooked rabbit, chewing the wet, juicy meat eagerly. At least he'd only have to take _**one**_ back on his shoulders. He could guess the rest of them would stay asleep -courtesy of some poison.

Still, it was going to be unpleasant trip back to Konoha.

_'I better see a doctor when I get back. I wouldn't put it past me my back will look bent after carrying someone on my shoulder.' _Sasuke glanced down at the unconscious kunoichi he dropped to the ground. "Enjoy your sleep while it lasts. It's gonna be an unpleasant scene when you wake up."

* * *

"Not that-" BOOM "-I'm complaining-" BOOM "-but why-" BOOM "-do we have-" BOOM "-to ride-" BOOM "-these giant-" BOOM "-frogs?!"

Naruto grinned over his shoulder at Dosu, whom was riding on an enormous red, warty-skinned toad with Kiba and some twelve women and children in an oval-shaped saddle while struggling to finish his sentences. The giant toad's hop easily cleared fifty feet in a jump, but didn't need to leap higher than five feet off the ground; it still shook the ground like an earthquake on every landing though.

Earlier, when the Konoha-nins and the villagers awoke at sunrise, Naruto chose to forego leading the freed captives on foot and conjured three summoning beasts; two of which were his trusted summons, Gama Kudo and Gama Fuwa'ashi, and the third was a giant of a toad three-times as large as Gama Kudo, called Gama Gunjin. Said summon didn't talk much, but did his job with zealous efficiency and carried a giant ax with a blade-head nearly as wide as a man was tall on his back, as well as a spear with a blade like a cross called a Jumonji Yari nearly twelve feet long and as thick as a human leg.

Gripping Naruto around his waist from behind was Hinata. He was actually surprised when the Hyuuga girl requested she ride with him instead of riding with her team mate Kiba. Glancing over his shoulder every now and then, he spied her usually pale face flushing crimson and, when they made eye contact, she swiftly looked away, face brighter red than before.

Naruto patted his amphibian mount, Gama Kudo. "Feeling alright, buddy?"

The large one-eyed frog blinked his eye at his summoner. "Fine as can be, Uzumaki. It's good to stretch the legs and breathe the fresh air again. Do you think Gama Fuwa'ashi is slacking off and horsing around somewhere else?"

While Naruto had given the swift amphibian scout duty to watch out for dangers ahead of them, the blond Jinchuuriki wouldn't be surprised if Gama Fuwa'ashi was in fact doing some exploration to satisfy his childish curiosity to look around. Still, he could hardly blame him; from what Gama Kudo had told him some two hours earlier, he and Jiraiya were the only shinobi who even summoned frogs, and they weren't exactly Jiraiya's first choice as summons considering how the lecherous old man had a preference for the larger amphibians. Naruto suspected it was simply out of ego to summon larger frogs, not sensibility or practicality.

"I see Konoha's front gates!" Hinata said behind Naruto. Had she not been so close to him, he wouldn't have heard her quiet voice. "It's only three minutes away from here, about nine-and-a-half hundred meters distance."

"HEY!" Kiba shouted from aback Gama Gunjin, amidst the children's ecstatic yips and cheers from the "fun" ride on the toad. "HOW MUCH LONGER 'TILL WE GET TO KONOHA?! I'M READY TO THROW UP FROM THIS RIDE ANY MINUTE NOW!!"

"Hinata says about ten minutes." Naruto called back, "So hold on to your mutt and bear with the ride for a little while. We're almost there."

Not two minutes later, another frog appeared beside Naruto and Hinata's mount, about the size of a ten year old. The amphibian's skin was dark green with yellow eyes, and wore a brown loin cloth and a tattoo on his left hind-leg. Strapped to his back was a katana as long as his body length. By all accounts, he looked like an oversized tree-frog from a tropical forest.

"What'd ya find?" Naruto asked Gama Fuwa'ashi.

The frog replied in a childish voice. "Went ahead, look for ambushes. Saw none, but strange. Lots of ninjas guarding village gates. Something big happening."

Naruto stared at the amphibian for a good minute, digesting the information he gave him. A glance over his shoulder showed Kiba and Dosu had heard the exchange and were just as much curious, but also wary. He turned back to his summon. "Go on ahead and warn the guards we're coming. Better to announce our arrival then risk a confrontation, but run away if they attack and come back here. Got it?"

"Ya, gotcha. Later master!", Gama Fuwa'ashi quipped, leaping away in an explosive jump down the dirt path, vanishing from view.

"What's going on, Naruto?", KIba called from the back.

"My summon scout said there's more guards stationed at the gates. We'll find out why once we get there. Gama Fuwa'ashi went ahead to warn the guards at the gate so they won't attack on our arrival."

Soon enough, the party came in sight of Konoha's front gates; two enormous double-doors ten meters high and three feet thick of solid wood and mortar, which fit tightly under the arch with the symbol of fire inside a red circle. At the base of the front gates, nearly twenty shinobi either Chuunin or above stood guard, with Gama Fuwa'ashi sitting docilely at the edge of the treaded path. One of the shinobi, a middle-aged man with an eye-patch raised a hand as a signal to halt when the company came within twenty steps of the guard's position.

The one-eyed Konoha-nin shouted, "Halt! Stay where you are and dismount for inspection!! We can't allow you any further into Konoha Village without clearance."

Naruto slid off Gama Kudo, Hinata doing the same while Dosu and Kiba helped dismount the women and children off of Gama Gunjin's huge saddle. Naruto came forward with Hinata behind him and approached the guard who called them to a halt. Said Konoha-nin stepped forward to meet up with Naruto and Hinata halfway. They stopped just three feet from each other.

"My name is Akame Iwana. You're Chuunin?" the one-eyed guard asked. Given he hadn't even been surprised or curious about the blonde's eye-patch or whether it was just a ruse meant he was all-business.

Still, that didn't stop Naruto from staring at the shinobi like he was stupid. Didn't the flak-vest give any indication? Or the head-band shield? Why not ask if there's water in the ocean while he's at it? "Yes, I'm a Chuunin." He raised a salute to Akame, as he knew was customary when addressing his superiors. "Uzumaki Naruto reporting. I've just finished with my assignment given to me by Tsunade-sama." He procured the mission scroll from the inside pocket of his vest and handed it to the guard. "Here are the scroll concerning my mission details and these women and children."

While the guard was skimming through the scroll, Naruto spied one of the guards in the back raising his hands together with the index fingers joined below his chin; a common hand-seal used when discerning for any Genjutsus. While it was recommended and even protocol to check for hidden enemies or any foul play, this new contingent of guards by the front gates struck Naruto as odd. Behind him, Kiba, Dosu and the women and children were being inspected by a Konoha-nin with short black hair, but without resorting to patting down any of them. A closer inspection of the man's eyes revealed him as a Hyuuga, but with his hitai-ate covering his forehead, Naruto suspected he was from the Branch Family of the Hyuuga Clan; the lower family members branded with a seal to comply them to servitude under the Main Family as their bodyguards.

"Alright", Akame said, interrupting Naruto's thoughts and bringing him back to attention, "Your mission scroll checks out. Leave the refugees with us and we'll escort them to their temporary shelters." He handed the young Chuunin his scroll, which he accepted.

Turning around and signaling their dismissal, the frog summons promptly dispersed back to wherever they came from. With three consecutive "poofs" of smoke, they were gone. Though Gama Fuwa'ashi managed to wave goodbye before disappearing.

While the women and children were being led into the village by the Hyuuga guard, Naruto turned back to Iwana. "Iwana-san, why is the security increased? I've been gone on a mission for three days and hadn't received word about any recent developments."

Akame motioned for Naruto and his team mates to follow him back into the village, stepping past the front gates. "A few hours ago, Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke returned from a border patrol with two Iwa-nins. From what I'm told, the Iwa-nins attempted an ambush on Hatake and Uchiha, but were defeated. And, based on Kakashi's observations, he thinks the group that attacked him were a scouting party. The two Iwa-nins are now being held for interrogation to uncover their purpose."

Naruto looked confused. So did Kiba and Hinata. But Dosu seemed like he had an epiphany as to the scouting party's purpose.

Kiba was the first to speak. "But why the increased security? Does Hokage-sama think we're going to war or something?"

Akame stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. His face looked grave, but serious, determined. "Yes. As of three hours ago, Konoha is now in emergency protocol." He looked at each of the young shinobi standing in front of him dead in the eye. "As of now, we are at war!"

Kiba's expression was total surprise. Hinata looked even more pale than her natural complexion. Dosu seemed impassive, but a drop of sweat rolled down his chin. As for Naruto, a weight of dread like a stone dropped in his stomach.

_'Figures your instincts had to be right about the worst things possible, Doki. Now what can we do?'_

Whether Naruto's thoughts were directed at the psyche in question, the blond Jinchuuriki received no answer.

To be continued...

* * *

Author's Notes:

**(Beforehand, I apologize for adding the additional text after Kakashi's and Sasuke's segment, but I had computer troubles that prevented me from setting it on the document, and frustration led to impatience and I just decided to forego typing up the rest of the chapter. Besides, better to get Naruto and his team back to Konoha without having to resort to a senseless retelling of their return. I think the chapter's ending is better this way.)**

My chapter updates are coming along a little slowly because I'm trying to correct my story's plotline as I go. You know, a choice of circumstances here, a chance meeting there and character development and all, kinda deal? Whatever. Give me a break; I'm doing my best! (Not like it'll kill ya to learn a little patience)

I DO NOT, under any circumstances, intend to make this fanfic of mine into a cliché "Naruto-falls-in-love-with-Hinata-on-the-spot" kinda fanfic. I'm giving it a plot and a chance to come together like the work of art I intend to make it as. I love this pairing, I like the characters. So it deserves the proper respect of a decent storyline and plot. SO STOP PESTERING ME ABOUT IT!! (IF you're a yaoi fan, I would then promptly suggest you turn around and leave this fic be. Don't like this pairing for some other reason, fine. Just enjoy the story and ignore them for the time being. I can relate; I don't really like Sakura myself. Too damn childish and violent. Personally, I think she needs therapy.)

Don't get me wrong, I know it's a little strange to all you avid readers out there about Naruto's seeming drastic change in attitude and everything, but it goes down like this: Between the time lapses of Naruto's return to Konoha after fighting Orochimaru and the moments ya'll HAVEN'T seen yet, that's where the changes are taking place. Given that I've already typed down how Doki was slowly changing Naruto from within from the 2nd and 3rd chapter, hopefully you'll be paying closer attention to the details. Read between the lines!

One last thing: I don't want to make Naruto crazy-strong or powerful with no good explanation: I want him to more like an assassin myself, using subterfuge and stealth. I know some parts of this story seem a little rushed and don't fit well with the content thus far, but I figured it was a bit too much a hassle to bother going in too much detail with Naruto's development with his training. Hopefully I'll fill in the blanks where I can to explain the things that didn't seem to make sense.

Jutsus used/mentioned in chapter:

_Chidori (Thousand-birds)- _An S-rank Ninjutsu created by Hatake Kakashi meant as a single-striking killing stroke, deriving its name by the sound it produces, like the chirps of a thousand birds. User converts their chakra into electricity and concentrates it into the palm of their hand. Depending on the user's stamina and familiarity with this technique, there are few defenses this attack cannot breach. Requires a massive amount of chakra to use more than once at any given time.

_Gatsuuga (Double-piercing Fang) –_Inuzuka Kiba's signature technique, part of the Inuzuka Clan's style of attack. Kiba first charges his limbs with a flow of chakra to increase his strength and reflexes, then leaps into a spinning lunge, forming a tornado of fang and claw to cut and slash at his targets. His animal companion, Akamaru, acts as Kiba's double-team partner when fighting against many opponents.

_Jyuuken (Gentle Fist)-_A form of hand-to-hand combat used exclusively in the Hyuuga clan of Konoha. Users of this technique utilize their chakra energy to target the chakra coils and chakra nodes to halt the flow of their opponent's energy, or attack internal organs. Use of this technique requires the Hyuuga clan's Doijutsu, the Byakugan, in order to see where they must strike with their chakra-charged attacks.

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Doppleganger/Clone)-_A Jounin-level technique; user creates a solid double of him/herself by using their chakra to shape the body and gives the look-alike construct their own free will. Each Doppleganger is able to even act either independently or follow mental commands given to them by their mind-link with the main body. Drawback is that the technique requires one to either split his chakra evenly between himself and all the Dopplegangers he/she creates, but with every Doppleganger destroyed, the main body receives knowledge gained by the construct. Each single clone can do any Jutsu the main body can, given the amount of chakra used to conjure it.

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire form: Art of the Grand Fireball)_-A Chuunin-level Ninjutsu which the user draws in a deep breath and blasts it out into a giant ball of fire, able to scorch earth and cause massive explosions on impact. Technique demands alot of chakra and control, otherwise the effect would be week and would harm the user if done incorrectly. Used by many Konoha shinobi, though Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha use them the most, since it WAS the Uchiha Clan's prized fire technique.

_Kawarimi no Jutsu (Art of Substitution)-_A Genin-level Ninjutsu. User simply uses an item or medium to switch places with, often when escaping being attacked at the last moment. Substitutions can be used with logs, rocks, packs, even Dopplegangers or anything else the user him/herself can pick up. Application ranges from escape to counter-attacks. Nearly every accomplished shinobi can perform this technique, as it requires little chakra or concentration since it is only a high-speed movement.

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)-_A Chuunin-level technique where one can bring forth an animal partner to aid them in battle, escape, espionage, etc. Technique requires one signing a contract on a summoning scroll in order to conjure an animal summon. Jutsu requires also an enormous amount of chakra to summon any significantly powerful, large, or mature summoning beast.

_Kuchiyose: Fubaku Shunshin no Jutsu (Summoning: Art of Seal-Binding Teleportation)-_One of Naruto's original techniques. Using his chakra to form a ring of sealing runes, the caster can transport anything within the circle of seals to any location, given the user knows the precise location. In Naruto's case, he uses his seal-imbued kunais as guideposts or points of correspondence for teleporting accurately.

_Kyoumeisen (Vibrating Sound-drill)_- Dosu Kinuta's standard technique. Using the gauntlet on his arm, Dosu utilizes any and all vibrations from sound and focuses the sound waves into ultrasonic pulses to attack his opponent. By controlling, compressing, and directing the vibrations with his chakra, he can either hit the inner-ear and destroy the target's balance and/or killing them by inter-cranial bleeding, or shatter solid matter like trees and living tissue.

_Rasengan (Spiral-sphere)-_An A-class technique where one gathers chakra to their hand, spins the chakra, then compresses the energy into a sphere of swirling blue energy no larger than a fist, but with the power of a hurricane. Requires a massive amount of chakra to maintain and create, but requires no hand-seals. One of the Yondaime's original techniques.

Translations:

Ami-Kuragakure no Sato- Village of Hidden Web-Scale

Bijuu- Tailed-beast

Byakugan- White-eye, the Hyuuga clan's bloodline limit doijutsu (Eye technique), able to look through flesh and great distances, as well as near 360 degree vision.

Kurohane no Sato- Village of Black Feather

Chuunin- Medium Ninja Rank

Gama Fuwa'ashi- Toad Lightfoot

Gama Kudo- Toad Mountain

Gama Gunjin- Toad Soldier

Genin- Low Ninja Rank

Genjutsu- Illusion Art

Hakama- A samurai's "skirt" which hide their feet

Hokage- Fire Shadow, Highest Ninja Rank, Village Leader

Hyorogan- Soldier Pill

Ichigan no Youko- One-eyed Fox

Jinchuuriki- Human-sacrifice/Tail-beast demon vessel

Jounin- High Ninja Rank

Kagerou no Sato- Dragonfly Village

Keirakukei- Chakra coils

Kekkei Genkai- Bloodline limit

Konohagakure no Sato- Village of Hidden Leaf

Kumogakure- Hidden Cloud

Kurohane no Sato- Village of Black Feather

Kyuubi no Kitsune- Fox of Ninetails

Ningu- Ninja Weapons

Ninjato- a strait-blade sword like a katana, used by ninjas

Oto- Sound

Ronin- Masterless Samurai

Samehada- lit. Sharkskin; Kisame's giant sword

Sennin- Hermit/Sage/Wizard

Sharingan- Windmill-eye

Shinigami- Death God

Suna- Sand

Takigakure no Sato- Village of Hidden Rain

Tanuki- lit. Raccoon dog, an animal famous in Japanese folklore

Tomoe- A comma sign, like a curved tear-drop


	5. Ch 05: What are we waiting for?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be typing this fanfic here, now would I?**

**Ch.05: **

_Monster._

_I've been called that word from behind my back to right in my face for the better part of my earliest memories; nearly ten years. The word was always carried with a tone of utter contempt and loathing, even disgust as if I was parasite unworthy to live._

_I didn't understand why they hated me. What did I do? Why are they always hating me? Why won't they tell me so I can apologize?_

_I didn't know. They wouldn't say why. They just called me a monster, as if I was their outlet of their hate, their rage, and, come to find later, their fears._

_But every action brings about an equal reaction. They hated me, so I in turn hated them._

_I pulled pranks to gain attention. I cursed at my elders and grown-ups to retaliate against their contempt of me. I hated the Genin Academy; I wanted to be a shinobi and be recognized as a part of the village, but apart from Iruka-sensei, all the other teachers either ignored me or ridiculed me. I skipped the classes because I couldn't stand the place, where too many memories of the teachers wouldn't leave my thoughts._

_Come to find on the day of the Genin Graduation, on the very night Mizuki had tricked me into stealing the Scroll of Forbidden Seals containing the most powerful Kinjutsus ever written from our village (from which I learned Kage Bunshin), I was told the truth of why I was hated. Mizuki actually took pleasure in yelling out how I was the host of the Kyuubi._

_But I'm not the Kyuubi. I was just a kid. I had no parents, no friends, no family. I didn't ask for this burden. _

_It didn't matter. I felt so much rage, the fury making my chakra surge out of my body as I wept at the injustice of it all. To find out you were held in contempt for something beyond your control is beyond forgiving._

_I hated them. I hated them all so much. You think I'm the Kyuubi? I wanted to bring them all the pain I've suffered from them and return it a hundred-fold. _

_Looking back, that was perhaps the first sign of Kyuubi's seal weakening._

_Mizuki had taken that opportunity to throw a large shuriken toward me, and would have killed me, had Iruka-sensei not jumped in the path and taking the blow himself. It was his actions, his sympathetic words, and tears that stopped me from actually racing back to Konoha to bring my own form of self-justice on the populace._

_The night ended with Mizuki beaten bloody by the thousands of Shadow Clones I managed to conjure, and Iruka had given me his very own head-band. I cried tears of joy and jumped into his arms with a hug of gratitude, knowing from that moment on, I could endure the pain just a little longer._

_I still get those hated looks, but now I don't care for their scorn. As far as I'm concerned, they're vermin. I wouldn't bat an eye or waste a breath to help them if worst ever came to worst and their lives were in danger. Don't expect someone you've shunned from his own home to go out of his way to protect you if all you've ever done is hold them in contempt._

_At least now I have friends that see me as who I really am. Not the monster inside my belly, but the shinobi I've grown into and the person I've become in spite of the hate always sent to me. Now I don't have to cry alone, or huddle into a corner when I feel angry, confused and frustrated._

_Now I'm not alone anymore. _

_Still, that word begs the question: _

_Who is the real monster?_

From the memoires of Naruto Uzumaki

**"What are we waiting for?"**

Dosu Kinuta was usually a light sleeper, sometimes keeping one eye open during slumber in the off-chance an attack ever came when his guard appeared to be lowered. In his case, his usually sharp hearing would alert him of any threat well before it came within close distance. He had, after all, trained his hearing to their complete human limits while under the servitude of Orochimaru back in Otogakure. Even unconscious, he could pick up the sounds of a water droplet thirty paces away, the scuff of footsteps as far as fifty meters, even hear the march of scuttling ants on the dirt.

Come to his surprise, he was in such a deep sleep, a large dog had taken the liberty of waking him up by means of literally pouncing on his gut.

"AAARGHH!!", Dosu yelled, bolting upright and coming face-to-face with a large feral dog, practically a wolf as large as a man with an eye-patch over its right eye panting in his face.

"Alright you brats!", Inuzuka Tsume called out, poking her head inside the bedroom. "Time to get up; I got breakfast ready and if you don't want to starve, you better run to the table before it's gone." She then left not a second later to Kiba's bedroom, pounding on his door and yelling loudly as well. Dosu could only assume the Inuzuka boy had the luxury of door locks to keep his mother from barging in.

While the dog, Kuromaru he was called, panted excitedly at the former Oto-nin, Dosu only glared. "Round one goes to you, mutt. But Round's two and three will be mine." He patted Kuromaru on the head briefly before managing to slip out from underneath the canine and out of his bed. He stepped outside his room just as Kiba's bedroom door opened, revealing the Inuzuka boy in a large black t-shirt and shorts.

"Mornin'.", Kiba said groggily, rubbing at one eye and yawned.

"I don't like your dogs." Dosu stated simply.

Too sleepy to raise any argument and start a verbal conflict, Kiba shrugged. "You don't like them because they like you. That's how they're raised. You'll get used to it." Kiba then seemed to notice someone missing. "Where's Naruto? Weren't you and him sharing that room?"

Dosu shrugged. "I don't know where he is, but I heard him leave the room sometime before sunrise. Might've been an hour ago or more."

Kiba didn't seem that much concerned. "Oh well. More food for us."

Dosu raised an eyebrow at that. "Didn't you say you'd fight Naruto as soon as we got back to Konoha?"

"Yeah, but right now my stomach is my first priority. Uzumaki can wait."

Dosu grunted his agreement on that. He too was feeling hungry. Especially since neither he nor Naruto had a place to return to.

Yesterday, after hearing the news of Konoha officially preparing for war with Iwa, Naruto and Dosu had bid their goodbyes to Kiba and Hinata and had taken a path to Naruto's apartment, only to find there was a large cloud of smoke bruising the blue sky and found, to Naruto's fury, his apartment in flames, and not too long ago set by some arsonist. With the help of a few patrolling Chuunin and Jounin, the fire was put out and Naruto managed to salvage a few supplies and items out of the remains of the living quarters, but not much else. The whole apartment was black, charred, burning, and all together not very structurally sound because of the fire damage.

Left with no alternatives after checking with Tsunade about the burning of his apartment, Naruto had regretfully conceded to asking Kiba if he and Dosu could lodge with him and his family until any other renovations were available. Kiba was surprisingly accepting of their predicament and let them share one of their compound's spare and empty rooms.

"Burned down your apartment? Damn, that sucks. Well, if my mom doesn't care, you can rent one of our spare rooms. But I'm only doing this because I don't want Tsunade-sama giving me any demands later. Just don't bother the dogs and wipe your feet."

Surprisingly, Kiba's mother, Tsume took to their stay here positively. She often ruffled Dosu's hair or patted Naruto's head affectionately, remarking about how impressed she was with his victory against Kiba during the Chuunin Exam Preliminaries, much to Kiba's chagrin. "It's about time someone kicked my boy's butt. A little humility does wonders for their character in the future."

With Kuromaru following behind the two Genins, Kiba and Dosu made their through the Inuzuka compound's halls down to the dining area, which was only a hard-wood table set in the middle of the kitchen itself. There were six chairs, and five dog bowls under the table, which was crowded with different cooked meats, fish, rice and soup to feed a family of ten.

Inuzuka Tsume was still chopping radishes while wearing an apron. Her black hair was frazzled and more spiky than Naruto's, like a lion's mane, and her eyes were sharp and feral-looking just like Kiba's. "Eat it while it's hot. Hana-chan will be down in a few minutes, so enjoy it while it's still fresh." Dosu and Kiba thanked Tsume and sat down for their breakfast.

Not two minutes into their meal, Hana came walking down the stairs with her troupe of three ninja dogs following beside her. Her hair was smooth and tied in a long slim horse tail, and her feminine features weren't so harsh or influenced by the Inuzuka blood, as with her mother and brother. Like the rest of the Inuzuka clan members, her cheeks were tattooed with red "fangs" to mark her family ties.

"Mornin' sis," Kiba said with his mouth half-full of food. "D'ja see Naruto leave this mornin'?"

"Quit talking with your mouth full!" Tsume barked, followed by tossing her spoon and hitting Kiba upside the head. The Inuzuka boy grunted and rubbed at the sore spot with a meek shrug before swallowing.

"Yes, I saw him early this morning," Hana answered, setting herself at the table while her nin-dogs went under the table. "He said something about needing to go see some old man about 'fixing a stubborn problem'. Whatever that meant."

"Did he say where he was going?" Dosu asked.

"Yeah. He said if you asked, just go to the Hokage Monument." Hana took another bite of grilled fish. "Did you need anything from him or something?"

Dosu shook his head, though he couldn't but feel like he needed to go there and find the answers to the questions swimming through his head, particularly concerning the events from their last mission.

_'I'll go once I finish eating,'_ Dosu decided, _'Then I'll check on Zaku and Kin at the Hospital.'_

* * *

"How does it feel, gaki?", Jiraiya asked.

Naruto turned around, raising and flexing his arms while crouching, testing the feel of the new clothes Jiraiya had procured for him. Instead of his Chuunin flak-vest, he now wore a gray, hard-boiled leather breast-plate encompassing his entire torso, which was an upgraded version of the Kirigakure's flac-vest with a square pouch sewn into the back for storing additional items he might need. The black sleeves poking out of his armor was lined with steel mesh inside of the fabric for added protection while providing efficient flexibility. His trousers were also lined with steel mesh, but were a darker orange than his last pair. To complete his ensemble, he wore grieves on his shins, and kept his rear pouch and ningu thigh holsters.

All together, Naruto was very much impressed.

"They're amazing. It all feels so light compared to the regular armor and flak-vest."

Jiraiya chuckled. He was glad his student liked the new clothes; they were much more effective than his last set of clothes. "Well, after you're done admiring yourself, I suggest you get back to training; getting reaccustomed to your chakra with the Kyuubi sealed back is going to take a while."

Naruto nodded, falling back into stance to concentrate his chakra.

Earlier that morning, Naruto had left the Inuzuka compound in search of Jiraiya to assist him with sealing the Kyuubi's energy away from leaking into his chakra system. He found the shameless letcher loitering around a woman's outdoor bath while peeking in on them through a hole in the fence. After loudly alerting the women in said bath about Jiraiya's peeping, all sixteen barely decently covered women stampeded out of the bath house front doors and proceeded to beat Jiraiya to an inch of his life. Not surprisingly, after the mayhem was over, Jiraiya was bruised, scuffed, but wearing one of the most perverted and lecherous grins he'd ever seen the old man use to date. You'd think the guy had died and gone to heaven.

Once the Frog Sennin had recovered from his beating enough to walk on his own, Naruto told Jiraiya about how he'd lost control of the Kyuubi's power during his last mission just three days prior to then. Finally turning serious at the gravity of the matter at hand, Jiraiya told Naruto to follow him to a secluded spot when the blond Chuunin suggested they go to the Hokage Monument. Jiraiya had thought it over briefly and accepted Naruto's suggested destination, leaping away with his student close behind.

Once they reached the top of the Hokage Monument, Naruto then went into an explanation on how Orochimaru's sealing method might be the only way to prevent the Kyuubi's chakra from overwhelming him again as it did before. When Jiraiya argued that he'd simply have to train more to adapt to the demon's energy, Naruto firmly shook his head and told the Frog Sennin:

"I can't take that risk again. I know the Kyuubi's seal is breaking down -I can feel it inside me- so the only way I can keep it from taking control of me again, I need to suppress it completely. I don't want to risk the safety of any one close to me if outbreak ever happened again."

After finally conceding to Naruto's sense of logic, Jiraiya used a _Gogyo Fuin_ over Naruto's twin _Shisho Fuin_, effectively cutting off all of the Kyuubi's chakra.

Not surprisingly, the pain had almost been as bad as when Orochimaru applied it. He nearly lost consciousness from the agony, like having five flaring-hot knives stabbed into his gut at once.

Still, that didn't stop Jiraiya from dishing out the training regimen, which involved going through all the variety of separate seals he'd studied from the Frog Sennin's scrolls. The majority of which were used as means of sealing, containing, teleportation, and barriers; the rest were applications for Ninjutsus and Genjutsus. They acted at the literal components of some techniques, weaving together like the sequence of hand-seals in basic Ninjutsu, only far more concentrated, controlled, and nearly unbreakable.

To really grasp how seal weaving itself worked when projecting them into Ninjutsu, one has to imagine a spider web. If the sticky strands that caught prey was the chakra energy in the technique, the seals themselves were the binding points that held the structure together into a stable, effective construct.

It was thanks to studying the intricacy of the seals that Naruto managed to use _Kunai Kage Bunshin_ to annihilate the bandit party during the start of his last mission.

After which, Naruto then began Taijutsu practice with Jiraiya to refine his combat skills; it wasn't to say that his Taijutsu was terrible, only he needed more control with his strikes and stances. Jiraiya had even stated that having no specific style of Taijutsu was an advantage, as many maneuvers were predictable if they followed a repetitive routine. The blond Chuunin had managed to grasp how to control his momentum to shift with any punch or kick, as well as keeping his stance more solid but at the same time, relaxed.

Having finished concentrating his chakra energy into a stable level, Naruto's hands then went into a blur of motion with hand seals, slapping his palm flat on the soil after execution.

"Doton: Yomi Numa no Jutsu!"

Having managed to keep too much chakra from executing the technique, Naruto managed to transform an area of seventeen paces in diameter into a pit of thick mud and tar. He'd barely put the minimum amount of chakra into the Ninjutsu, which meant he was gaining more control with his chakra with the Kyuubi's demonic energy sealed away and not contaminating his chakra coils.

Jiraiya nodded, impressed by his student's performance. "Not too shabby, gaki. I only showed it to ya three times and you managed to get a decent size on your first try. It's a little small, but-"

"Any bigger and the structural integrity of the mountain would've been compromised and brought the cliff crashing down onto the village, Ero-sennin." Naruto interrupted with an annoyed drawl. "Am I the only one between us with any incentive to think ahead now?"

"I told you not to call me that!!" Jiraiya barked, smacking Naruto atop his head. Naruto rubbed his head, glaring at the old man with his one eye. "And you could show me at least a little more respect since I'm taking time out of my busy schedule-"

"Peeping on women in bathhouses." Naruto muttered.

"-and decided to teach you a few more useful Ninjutsus than just your _Kage Bunshin_ and _Rasengan_. Really, you need a larger arsenal of techniques if you want to fight against an opponent in any situation. And while we're at it, you'll work to perfect the skills you already know."

"Alright," Naruto conceded, "What did you have in mind?"

"You know how your _Kage Bunshins_ transfer their memories and experience to you after their dispersed?"

Naruto nodded. He had found that odd, but he simply contributed that phenomenon to the simple mind-link shared with his Doppelgangers and hadn't noticed, considering he'd been either too distracted during combat or didn't notice because they were often close at his side.

Jiraiya continued. "Well, what better way to learn more Ninjutsus than using your _Kage Bunshins_? Use ten for one technique and you'll ten-times faster than alone! Use a hundred; you'll learn a hundred-times faster!"

That was definitely an advantage of using his _Kage Bunshins_ to practice his Ninjutsus, but Naruto had a sneaking suspicion there was more that Jiraiya wasn't disclosing; he'd rarely, if ever, suggested a training regime that didn't require a taxing tribute. "What's the drawback to using so many clones? I know I have plenty of chakra reserves to conjure even a thousand of them, but there's gotta be some kinda' catch."

The Frog Sennin chuckled a little nervously. "Well, once you disperse a very large quantity of Doppelgangers at once, there's a kind of 'mental fatigue' that occurs, basically stressing your brain and leaving really terrible headaches, vertigo, sometimes making you completely unconscious. But then again, no one in the history of the technique's use were ever capable to make as many as you; you're chakra capacity exceeds most Chuunin, even some Jounin. That means more training."

"So I suppose I'm gonna be at this 'til I collapse?" Naruto remarked.

"Yup. So get to work already. The quicker you start, the sooner you're done."

Crossing his forefingers and muttering under his breath vile oaths about slave-driving perverts, Naruto started his training with conjuring one hundred _Kage Bunshins_.

* * *

"Discharged? Would you happen to know when and where they left?"

"No, I don't," the desk nurse replied, short brown hair and eye-glasses. "I believe I saw them escorted by some ANBU, so you might check with Hokage-sama as to their whereabouts."

Not expecting the nurse to be so helpful but grateful as well, Dosu bowed his head slightly in thanks and left the Konoha Hospital.

Just as the former Oto-nin reached the twin pillars of the Konoha Hospital's gates, he ran into someone he hadn't expected to meet so soon. "Hinata-san?"

Hinata started slightly on hearing her name, but calmed once seeing who it was. "O-oh, Dosu-san. I'm sorry, I-I didn't know you w-were here."

Dosu looked down to see what the Hyuuga heiress was holding. An elegant vase with a freshly cut tulip. "Who were you planning on visiting?", Dosu asked.

"Um, I-I was going to bring some flowers for Lee-san, to hope for his quick recovery. I heard from Neji-nii-san that Tsunade-sama had already finished with the procedure to healing his body. The doctor's said he would be discharged within the week."

Dosu's ears twitched, picking up the familiar rhythm of footsteps approaching from behind. "That might not be necessary after all."

"Huh?", Hinata started, off-guard, "W-what do you mean? Had he already left?"

"He's right behind me." Dosu deadpanned.

No sooner that Hinata peeked around behind Dosu's back, a rather energetic voice loudly proclaimed, "Ah! Hinata-san! What a great day to see you again, and even bringing me a flower in hopes of my speedy recovery! I overheard your conversation and felt moved to tears for your kind consideration! You are truly a good friend, even though we haven't spoken very often!"

Knowing full well he was going to regret what he did next, Dosu turned to face the speaker.

Rock Lee, otherwise known as Konoha's Blue Beast (Why he was called that, Dosu didn't know for the life of him: he wore nothing blue on him!), clad in his green spandex one-piece outfit, orange leg-warmers, and bandaged forearms, was smiling a wide, toothy grin, while holding up his thumb with his arm stretched out and the other on his hip. Dosu could only assume this was the "nice guy" pose that he and his sensei, Maito Gai, used frequently when showing their enthusiasm, which they had in abundance. And he still had those strangely large eye brows and eye-lashes over his very large and round eyes. Add the silly bowl-cut hair style and Dosu could hardly fathom as to how someone so silly-looking was so fearsome in combat.

The former Oto-nin experienced first-hand, back in the Forest of Death during the second stage of the Chuunin Exam, just how strong Rock Lee truly was. His first experience was when he fought the Taijutsu virtuoso back during their attempt to kill Uchiha Sasuke under Orochimaru's orders, he and his team mates found it more than a little difficult to beat the green-clad Taijutsuist. It was thanks to Zaku's interference by cushioning his landing from Lee's Omoto Renge, that Dosu managed to land a solid hit with his sound-gauntlet to defeat Rock Lee. Had Zaku NOT cushioned his landing at the last second, Dosu was sure he would've been knocked out with several severe and near-crippling injuries.

The second time Lee demonstrated his skills was back in the tower in the center of the Forest of Death, during Gaara and Lee's match in the Preliminaries, Dosu managed to overhear Maito Gai explain to Team Seven that Rock Lee was unable to use either Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, but developed a knack for Taijutsu and excelled at hand-to-hand combat through a rigorous training and conditioning over the span of year. Rock Lee proved his mettle was when he went all out against Gaara, opening five of the Eight Inner Gates, and unleashing a level of strength neither he nor anyone inside the combat chamber had ever seen from a Genin.

Just remembering Gaara's name brought back fresh recollections of his last encounter with the maddened shinobi, transforming into a giant monster before something lashed at him and nearly left him dead. Dosu couldn't suppress the cringe from the phantom pain when thinking back to that incident. It was mad luck he was even alive today.

Lee's voice brought Dosu back to the present; said Taijutsu virtuoso was peering intently at Dosu with his chin between his fingers. "Pardon my rudeness, but you seem so familiar to me for some reason. You and I haven't met before, have we?"

Before Dosu could reply, he heard behind him, "He's the guy that attacked my team and would've killed us if not for Sasuke-kun."

Dosu recognized the feminine voice, dripping with contempt. He turned around and came face-to-face with Haruno Sakura.

Thirteen years old, the kunoichi's most distinguishing features were her neck-length, cherry blossom pink hair, green eyes, and red Chinese-style dress. She wore her head-band like a bow, leaving the engraved shield resting above her head and holding back her bangs, which parted her hair and showed her somewhat larger than average forehead.

Lee must have recognized his name, because his face suddenly hardened and snapped into a fighting stance. "Villain! You dare show yourself again after your shameful attack on Sakura-san and her team. I shall punish you!"

Despite Lee's bold claim, Hinata managed to intercede herself between the Taijutsuist and Dosu before the situation got out of hand. "Please, Lee-san. Dosu-san isn't with Oto anymore; he's in service with Tsunade-sama now. And…he helped me, Kiba and Naruto-kun during our last mission. He's…not a bad person."

Lee's face went from glaring to relaxed in an instant. Dosu was astounded by the Blue Beast's shift in emotions, often in the blink of an eye. "I see. Then I shall trust Hokage-sama in her judgment; but I'll keep a close on Dosu nonetheless in regards to being prepared should the worst case scenario ever occur. It is my duty as a shinobi of Konoha, and as a student of Gai-sensei, to look out for my comrades in the face of danger!"

"Um, if you're done, I'd like to get going." Dosu stated, somewhat irritated by the…eccentricities of Rock Lee's long-winded statement. He turned back around to leave the Hospital grounds, as they were beginning to draw too much unwanted attention from passersby as is, when Sakura stepped in front of the former Oto-nin. Her expression had never changed.

"You might work for Tsunade, but don't think that'll save you. I will make you pay for attacking me and my team. And Lee-san as well."

"You can try," Dosu taunted, not the least intimidated by the girl's threat, "But I'm not holding my breath."

Sakura's pretty face twisted into a snarl. "Underestimating me again? Want me to prove to you once more just how much you'll be mistaken? How much you'll pay?"

Dosu was far from convinced. "Your skills are abysmal, at best. It was only blind luck that spared you from getting killed by Zaku, when your friends jumped in at the last moment." He leaned his head down next to Sakura's ear to whisper, "And just FYI, shaking like a leaf in the wind doesn't help getting your message across when threatening someone."

Sakura hadn't even noticed she was shaking until she glanced down at her clenched fist. A slight tremor rattled along her arms and legs. She didn't know if it was from anger, adrenaline, or fear, but denied any possible notion of the latter possibility for sake of her pride._ 'I'll be damned if I show this bastard any fear again. What happened back in the Forest of Death is past. I'm stronger now.'_

Even she had to confess, to the privacy of her own thoughts, that last thought was debatable. True, she had shown she was stronger during her fight with her friend/rival during the Chuunin Exam Prelims from her time joining Team 7; but she had no real impressive skills beyond Genin-level Ninjutsus and extensive book intelligence.

Despite having faired not very well against the Sound Team herself after Lee had been incapacitated, she at least held her own against Zaku and Kin for the better part of several minutes. Part of her was angered by the fact that they double-teamed against her, but really knew that standard shinobi law dictated victory above all else if combat couldn't be avoided. After all, in fights concerning life or death, there were no such things as rules; you kill or be killed.

But she still hated them for making her feel so helpless.

"Where are you going, Oto?" Sakura demanded when Dosu stepped around her.

"To meet with Naruto. Not that it should matter to you." Not waiting to ask who would follow, Dosu leapt away over to the rooftops, heading toward the stone faces of the Hokage Monument. The sound of footfalls and wind-flapping clothes behind him alerted Dosu of the others joining him on his trip.

But aside from Dosu, whose hearing picked up the minute taps of distant footfalls, no one in the group was even aware they were being followed.

* * *

A knock thumped on Tsunade's office door. Said Godaime was currently in the process of signing a mountain-load of papers and documents that seemed unending in their deliverance, courtesy of her personal assistants, Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo. Not even her apprentice Shizune was around, busy as she was treating wounded and injured shinobi at the Konoha Hospital.

Thankful for an excuse to take a break from her documents, Tsunade set down her pen and replied. "Enter."

The door opened, and the Tokibetsu Jounin Namiashi Raido stepped inside her office before falling into attention stance. The ninja's hair was spiky, wild, and brown with matching eyes but a garrish scar marring his whole left cheek. "Apologies for disturbing your work Hokage-sama, but the Council Members Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, Hyuuga Hiashi, Jiraiya-dono and Ibiki-san are here to address to you about the interrogation of the Iwa-nin spy. Should I let them in?"

Tsunade nodded; she'd been anticipating news from the Iwa-nin's interrogation for a whole day. "Let them in, Namiashi. Afterward, you're dismissed."

Raido bowed, then turned to pull the door open. The first to enter Tsunade's office was an old man with green glasses, short gray hair and a beard. A scarf wrapped around his neck and shoulders over his green robe; Mitokado Homura, the Hokage's Advisory Councilor since the days even during the Sandaime's, Sarutobi Hizuren, reign as leader of Konoha Village, even during Sarutobi's childhood as his Genin team mate.

Behind Homura, Utatane Koharu stepped in. She was an old woman with sagging jowls, wrinkled face and pale gray hair wrapped in a bun atop her head. She wore neutral-colored _kimono_ robes with a _haori_ over-coat and sash over her shoulder to her hip. Like Homura, she too was an Advisory Council Member and a team mate in Sarutobi's Genin team. Both _Goikenban_ members were in their late sixties.

Jiraiya came in behind the Advisory Councilers, with Morino Ibiki beside him. The man was a Tokibetsu Jounin in charge of torture and interrogation in the ANBU's information gathering division. The man was tall, broad-shouldered and almost as big as Jiraiya, with a chiseled, square jaw and face scarred by two parallel diagonal lines across his face. Under the hitai-ate cloth that covered his scalp was a mish-mash of scarred flesh from burns, lacerations, and holes where screws had been drilled into his skull, courtesy of one failed mission where he nearly lost his life pursuing his very own younger brother after an attempt on stealing the Scroll of Forbidden Seals.

The last person to enter was Hyuuga Hiashi, Clan Leader of the Hyuugas, Konoha's oldest and strongest shinobi clans. Hiashi was middle-aged, weary compact frame of a martial artist, chiseled facial features and long black hair that reached his middle-back. As with all members of the Hyuuga clan, his eyes were a pale lavender, absent of any black pupil. The man wore a pristine white robe and walked in step with a cane. He was by no means either lame or weak to walk without it, but was a display of his status as it pretty much just represented the oppressiveness of which the Main Family subjugates the Branch Family under their rule; like dogs kept in check by their stick-wielding masters.

Tsunade knew well about Hiashi, met him several times in the past before and after his ascension into rank as the Hyuuga Clan Head, and found him too pompous, arrogant, and cruel to a true leader of anything. Were it not for his authority as head of the largest and most powerful clan in Konoha, the Hyuuga would never again be part of the council. The rumors she heard about his more "unflattering" connections during her travels with Shizune made her skin crawl, and knew better than to trust a man too willing to bind his own family into slavery with seals meant for prisoners.

Still, it wouldn't help to offend him regardless of her personal opinions; having him as her enemy would only be the start of the village's descent into bloodshed and chaos. The last thing she needed was Konoha shinobi fighting each other and tearing the whole village apart. Her political enemies wouldn't waste any time before usurping her position and authority for their own petty gains.

_'I hope they have some good news'_, Tsunade thought. "Jiraiya, Ibiki. Have you gleaned any information out of the Iwa-nins?"

While Ibiki just shook his head negative, Jiraiya went into detail. "From what we learned, neither of the spies even know where Iwagakure's army will begin their march; not even their numbers or _when_ they'll mobilize. ANBU used Genjutsus, Ibiki made them sweat bullets; Hell, not even Inoichi could find anything useful outta' either of them after swimming through their memories for an hour. Apparently the Tsuchikage just gave them orders to infiltrate into our territory to find the best route for a large scale assault. It's not like the Iwa's have ever used a different method in the past hundred years."

This wasn't good news; for all they knew, the Tsuchikage had already dispatched his forces toward Konoha and wouldn't be able to tell when or where the attack would come from. She turned to Hiashi. "I take it your scouts haven't found any traces yet to any gathering armada roaming between Konoha and Iwa?"

"No, and our forces are spread too thin to repel an attack should they come to attack en masse. We may have to withdraw all our forces back to the village in the event of a seige." Hiashi tapped his cane loudly. "I've already called back my scouts; no sense to have them ambushed and killed out on the field if we don't know when or where we'll be attacked."

Homura stepped forward. "Lady Tsunade, perhaps we should send one scout not to check our borders, but instead infiltrate Iwagakure itself and find some information or documents hinting at the armada; large-scale wars will need documents and records of weapons, supplies, and man-power."

"Unadvisable", Koharu interjected. "Iwagakure is more tightly controlled, protected and monitored than almost every other shinobi village. We'd need to send several platoons just to draw out the patrols, provide a distraction for one of our men to attain any documents, and even then there's no guarantee any would be left undamaged, tampered, destroyed or guarded. Documents holding vital information is more protected than gold nowadays. We simply can't afford to send our troops into enemy territory in attempt to steal something not even there. We'd be throwing our ninja's lives away."

Jiraiya smirked knowingly. "I know just who to send for the job."

Everyone in the room turned to Jiraiya at the same time. "Who did you have in mind?" Homura questioned.

"Uzumaki Naruto. If anyone can, he could do it."

Hiashi's face twisted into a frown of disgust. "Giving such an important task to that monster is foolishness-"

Hiashi got no further word out, as Jiraiya vanished in a blur of motion and reappeared in front of the Hyuuga leader with his hand gripped dangerously around the Hyuuga's wind-pipe. The Toad Sennin's eyes were hard and voice was laced with livid rage. "If you dare insult my student again, I'll carve your heart out with my Rasengan. Then I'll feed what's left of you to my frogs."

"You dare threaten me, Jiraiya? Don't forget your place, nor that I'm head of the Hyuuga Clan and Councilor-"

"I don't give a rat's ass, bastard." Jiraiya hissed. "Give me one reason or excuse and your life is forfeit. Have I made myself clear?"

For some several tense seconds, the atmosphere was a boiling point with Ibiki, Homura, Koharu, and Tsunade watched from the sidelines as the struggle unfolded. Even Hiashi had to concede he was no match for Jiraiya, despite his great Taijutsu skills, which meant little to a man able to summon toads the size of buildings and knew dozens if not more Ninjutsus he could use against him.

Seeing as Hiashi finally got the message, Jiraiya released his grip on the man's throat before turning back to the still-impassive Tsunade. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he could've sworn he saw a ghost of a smirk on her purple-covered lips. "Explain why Uzumaki would be the best choice for this mission, Jiriaya."

"From what I've learned from local gossip and talking with Iruka and Ebisu, Naruto has excellent skills of evasion and escape. I even heard he always managed to evade capture after doing a particular prank or stunt that had some of the ANBU chasing after him, yet it seemed only Iruka had the knack to catch the brat. Secondly, since he can use Kage Bunshin in large numbers, he himself could take the place of several platoons. And am I mistaken that he managed to steal the Scroll of Forbidden Seals on the same night of the Genin Graduation?"

Raido, whom hadn't left the office still, scratched his nose embarrassed. He was actually one among several dozen in the past who tried (but failed) to catch the prankster after the crime had been done.

Jiraiya turned to Hiashi. "Do you have a better choice to send into Iwa?"

The Hyuuga leader knew the Frog Sennin was trying to goad him by hinting at his incompetence, but managed to hold himself in check. Barely. "I have no objections to sending the Kyuubi-brat into Iwa. But if he fails and dies on this errand, if we are so fortunate to be rid of him, then it will be your responsibility to handle any of the repercussions from this, Jiraiya. And I'll be holding it to you."

"I suggest you remember your place, Hyuuga Hiashi!" Tsunade warned, narrowing her eyes at him. "Your authority extends only so far in your clan and this council's ruling decisions. Uzumaki Naruto may be Jiraiya's pupil, but he is a shinobi of Konoha under MY authority. Secondly, I would warn you well about speaking ill of Uzumaki in my presence concerning his 'prisoner'. You and your conceited clan would've burned to ashes with the rest of Konoha were it not for his sacrifice, as well as the Yondaime's."

Seeing his obvious disadvantage with the majority of the Council in favor with Tsunade, Hiashi backed off. "You've made your point. But we shouldn't just send ONE shinobi into enemy territory, should the worst case scenario occur. I suggest we send a three-man team; Uzumaki and two others."

"And I know just the two to send with him", Jiraiya quipped, turning to Tsunade. "What time do want to send the brat?"

"Tomorrow morning. Tell him his mission but don't leave any form of documents with him should he get captured."

"Lady Tsunade", Homura said, "Perhaps we should gather our military strategists for formulate a battle plan while the infiltration team leave for Iwa? We may need to consider several counter-measures in the event of this assignment being....unsuccessful."

Tsunade nodded. "Agreed. Ibiki, your task is to bring all shinobi out on the field back to the village, and quickly. Use carrier birds if you must. Raido, check with the Hospital and see how many shinobi are combat ready and all others; I need to know how much of our military force we have still. Haishi, inform all the clan heads to gather here for debriefing. Jiraiya, go inform Naruto about his task. I'll be sending a messenger hawk to Sunagakure for reinforcements. Get to it!"

Once the Council Members and Jounin left her office, Tsunade slumped down into her chair, breathing out a tired sigh. When she saw only Jiraiya still remained, she asked, "What else do you have to tell me, Jiraiya? If it's bad news, just tell me and don't sugar-coat it."

Jiraiya took a deep breath; he knew without a doubt Tsunade wasn't going to like it. "Alright, I'll make it quick: Naruto told me he lost control of the Kyuubi's power again during his last mission. I think the seals breaking down much more rapidly than we speculated. I've managed to place another seal over it, but I think it's only a matter of time before..." Jiraiya's voice trailed off, unable to finish his line of thoughts, but didn't need to, considering Tsunade understood all too well. Jiraiya felt a brief flash of anger and frustration at his own helplessness, unable to aid his student.

Jiraiya was not alone in his feelings; Tsunade slumped down with her face in her hands, feeling much more exhausted, as if her old age was finally catching up to her. "What can we do? Isn't there something you can do to help him?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Sometimes you can't hope for the best; only prepare for the worst."

Dosu and his pursuers arrived at the top of the Hokage Monument within only minutes of their trip. The troup landed in the grassy clearing out of the tree-line where several wooden stumps were set, riddled with either divots or ningu. Dosu panned his head left and right around the area until he found his master, slumped against one of the trees on the grass and dead-to-the-world asleep with his head slumped to his chest. He almost didn't recognize him with his new gray flak-vest.

Lee strode up beside Dosu in front of Naruto. "Naruto-kun seems to have had a change in attire. Perhaps I myself should-"

Dosu tuned out Lee's voice, keeping his senses trained on his surroundings. There were several footfalls, all of which enclosed around him and the others. By the padding footsteps, they all seemed generally the same weight. _'Kage Bunshins,'_ Dosu thought, _'Naruto set up several Doppelgangers as look-outs while he rested. But what the hell was he doing anyway to make him so tired? Aside from the training logs, the area's untouched: you'd think there'd be some damage done to some of the trees or scorched patches of grass or something.'_

"--you listening Kinuta-san?" Lee's voice cut in, breaking off Dosu's train of thought.

"No", Dosu said simply, much to Lee's chagrin. He stepped closer to Naruto's sleeping form and lightly kicked his shoulder. "Wake up, Uzumaki. You've got a welcoming party waiting for you."

Groaning from his disturbed rest, Naruto raised his head up, squinting his eye at Dosu and the others behind him. He heard a couple of surprised noises before rubbing his eyes. A second glance behind his shinobi were Rock Lee and Haruno Sakura, both of whom looked at his face in horrid fascination.

Lee suddenly jumped forward, his expression expectant as the blond Chuunin rose to his feet. "Naruto-kun! Which villain did this to you during my absence from my duties as Konoha's shinobi?! Were you attacked? Or did you undergo great and extreme training to express your power of youth for the benifit of gaining greater skills?!"

There was a collective silence that followed. From everyone both in front and behind the Blue Beast of Konoha, stares answered the Taijutsuist's loud question. Dosu could've sworn he heard a crow caw in the distance, and...was that a tumbleweed that rolled by behind them?

"Um, actually, I got these wounds and scars from Orochimaru."

Lee's large eyes widened even further, while Hinata gasped. Sakura, however, after deliberately shoved Dosu aside roughly, much to the former Oto-nin's anger, stood directly in front of Naruto. "You fought against Orochimaru?! Where did this happen?!"

"Nice show of concern, Sakura. I'm fine by the way; thanks for askin'."

Sakura ignored Naruto's sarcastic response and stared, her eyes hard.

Naruto huffed, annoyed. He was liking his own team mate less and less by the second the longer he stayed in her company. "Fine! This is what happened: A month ago Ero-sennin and I went on a trip to ask for Tsunade-baa-chan to come to Konoha as the new Hokage, but Orochimaru and Kabuto were already there..."

As Naruto went into detail about the events back in Tanzaku, excluding any mention of either Kyuubi taking possession of his body, Doki's manifestation, the details around his Rasengan technique, or his encounter with Itachi and Kisame, Lee and Hinata were drawn into his tale, fascinated. Dosu was leaning against the trunk of a near-by tree, arms folded and otherwise bored, though his exposed eye revealed the undeniable glint of interest, particularly where Naruto described his fight with Orochimaru and not only held his own and injured the Snake-sennin, he had managed to effectively kill Kabuto before he could retreat from the field. Naruto even showed them the eyes he took from Orochimaru and the dead Kabuto.

Sakura, who snorted in disbelief at Naruto's tale, didn't buy his story. To her, it sounded more like a really dumb fantasy.

When finished with his story, Lee had tears in his eyes, clenching his fist, while Hinata bore an expression of total awe. "Naruto-kun! To think that your passion of youth went so far as to challenge Orochimaru himself, against all odds and persevered despite being so disfigured, I'm moved to tears!" Lee wiped his teary eyes, before his expression flashed to a determined one. "YOSH!! Starting today, I too shall ascend to a greater level of strength with the fabulous training of Gai-sensei!"

"Um, Okay, you do that, Lee." Naruto said uneasily, a bead of sweat down his brow. Seriously, this guy was a little too...eccentrically passionate about following people's examples. "By the way, why are you all here?"

Dosu spoke up. "They chose to tag along with me since I decided to come here; I was gonna talk to you about what happened during our last mission-"

"Practice with Lee." Naruto said, cutting off Dosu in mid-sentence.

Said ninja's eye widened just a slightest bit. "Me? Practice against this monster?" He said incrediously, jabbing his thumb in Lee's direction, whom seemed distracted by some squirrels that approached the Taijutsuist. Said critters were happily scuttling along Lee's arms and shoulders, nuzzling him as they did so. Apparently, animals liked him.

"Well, since Lee-san is busy," Sakura spoke up, "I guess I'll take you up on that practice."

Dosu glanced over at her incredously; she had to be joking. "Are you sure you're up to it? Or is this your idea of getting back at me for attacking your team in the forest?"

"Both." Sakura stated, with a subtle hint of menace. "Get ready bastard, 'cause I want to enjoy kicking your ass!"

**_'YEAH!! THAT'S THE SPIRIT! RIP HIM A NEW ONE!! SHANARO!!'_** Shouted "Inner" Sakura inside the Haruno girl's mind. As a second personality, a trait shared with the Haruno Clan exclusively in their bloodline, they tended to influence the majority of individual's mannerisms to the extent of subtle manipulation, such as aggression, shrewdness, and the like. Even during her match against Yamanaka Ino, another Konoha kunoichi pursuing Sasuke's affections, during the Chuunin Exam preliminaries, her second personality prevented the Yamanaka girl from taking full control of her mind through Ino's family Ninjutsu.

While Dosu and Sakura walked a little further away from the others closer to the cliff's ledge, Lee came up beside Naruto with four squirrels on his his shoulders. "Naruto-kun, aren't you going to stop them? Sakura-chan is your friend, isn't she?"

"She's my team mate." Naruto said flatly.

Lee seemed confused at first, but then understood the blond's response. "But..."

"Listen Lee. Once upon a time, I liked Sakura 'cause I thought she was very pretty. I'm a guy, after all. I even tried to be her friend after seeing she would only love Sasuke. But the only thing she ever showed me was scorn, contempt, and disrespect, even after all the times I risked life and limb for her. The Sakura I wanted to like me was just a fantasy; a dream in a dream."

"So what happened?" Lee asked at last.

Naruto turned to Lee, then deliberately tapped at the scars on his face. "I woke up to reality."

Sakura made the first move. With only seven paces between them, the pink-haired kunoichi launched into a dead-sprint, tossing three shuriken with deadly accuracy while drawing her kunai from her thigh holster. Following that, her hands flashed through the familiar hand seals for a Bunshin no Jutsu. Three Doppelgangers shimmered beside her as she and her illusionary doubles mirrored her movements.

Dosu understood Sakura's ploy the moment she went into motion; she was using the shuriken as a distraction, so when he used his arm to deflect them, she would attack his blind spot. The addition of the illusions were also used as a means to throw off her actual location as she closed the distance. A simple tactic, and easily countered. Swatting the shurikens away with his gauntlet arm, Dosu chose to use his hearing instead of sight so she couldn't attack him in any blind spot or get distracted by the Doppelgangers; he knew her position by the sound of her footfalls crunching the grass. The shurikens hit his gauntlet with sharp, metallic _twangs_ as they ricocheted, though they failed to mask Sakura's rapid approach. He waited until the last moment, then struck out to his far right.

Sakura raced up on Dosu's right side, angling herself within Dosu's blind spot when he raised his gauntlet arm to deflect the shurikens as she knew he would, and lunged with her kunai leading, aiming for his exposed flank.

It never hit home. Dosu deftly slapped his arm down, shoving Sakura's thrust wide and landed a solid uppercut into her open ribs on her right flank with his left fist. The blow knocked the air from her lungs and threw her off her feet into a tumble, coughing and groaning, on the dirt while clutching her side in pain. On her collapse, her illusions faded away like shadows exposed to daylight.

"That's the difference between us, Haruno. You've relied too much on your team mates to fight your battles, and you had let your performance against that Yamanaka girl go to your head. That, and you were arrogant enough to expect an easy victory. This match was over before it even began."

Walking off, Dosu met Lee halfway as the Taijutsuist ran past him to help Sakura, though the Blue Beast left a scathing look at Dosu in passing. Standing beside Naruto, Dosu looked over his shoulder as Lee knelt down to help Sakura to her feet.

"Sakura-san, are you okay? Do you need--"

"Don't touch me!!" Sakura yelled, slapping Lee's hand away.

Even Naruto looked back at the scene at Sakura's outburst. "Stop acting like a spoiled child Sakura; you can't expect to beat someone in a fight with more experience than you."

"I wasn't asking for your opinion, Naruto! So just shut up!!"

Naruto sighed. Looking at Sakura as she was now, on her knees and yelling out the indignities of losing to someone she hated simply because she feared them, reminded him all to clearly of himself when he struggled to match Sasuke's performance and skills during the first few months of the Team 7's enlisting as an official Genin team. He knew he should feel more compassionate towards his team mate, offer some kind of condolence or helping hand.

Yet all he felt was a cold detachment from her, from the team itself, after coming to terms with who he was and what he'd become. He hadn't even yet had any desire or reason to search out Kakashi, as he knew he should have. The reason being might be because, every time he thought of them, all the memories of how he was treated by them would force themselves to the forefront of his attention. Kakashi neglected his presence to train Sasuke, Sakura gave him only scorn and contempt when he tried to be her friend, and Sasuke...

What were he and Sasuke really? Just the question itself brought a myriad of contradictive thoughts to mind, all of which revealed no answers.

Naruto had taken Sasuke as his rival to beat in ninja skills, yet Sasuke believed he was too hopeless to accomplish much, and slacked off when he was busy training hard to exhaustion. They've fought, bled, and nearly died several times beside each other fighting their enemies, and would only meet a mutual understanding during those instances. They'd shake hands, pat each others' backs for a job well done, yet would go back to bickering as soon as the storm passed, back into their everyday routine. It felt all too natural to fit back into their roles they'd wordlessly agreed to fulfill as part of the team, yet Naruto felt like he always got the shorter end of the stick.

Naruto would confess, to the privacy of his own thoughts, that it was all a front. He made a big show of everything to get attention, and truly thought Sasuke was everything HE wasn't. Sasuke was skilled, adored, and respected, while he was clumsy, hated, and given only negligence in the face of his accomplishments.

Not once, in the time as a Genin of Team 7, had he ever been given a "Thank You."

Everything he tried to keep inside himself was laid bare to his own eyes, thanks to Doki. Now he could only agree to drop the childish act, and fulfill his role as a shinobi of Konoha.

He had nothing else.

Still, maybe he could…

"Hey Sakura!" Naruto called, catching the pink-haired girl's attention. "How about you train with us? You might get some decent practice with us if you're available."

Sakura just glared at him. "And what makes you think you'll teach me anything I don't already know, idiot? In case you've forgotten, I can hold my own plenty fine. Kinuta just got a lucky shot in is all."

"For one, you're the weakest between everyone from the Genin Squad. Second, if you're referring to your fight with Ino, you just got lucky. And third, maybe making an actual effort instead of making excuses might give you some needed experience so you don't fall flat on your ass on the next sparring session."

"Asshole!" Sakura screeched, throwing one of her kunais in her fit of rage. Her aim had been wild, and Naruto watched its flight as it embedded deep into the trunk of the tree behind him just two feet above his head. "Who're you to tell what I should do? You're just a drop-out who couldn't pass the simplest tests in the Academy!"

"Careful Sakura; it's dangerous to disrespect your tools." Naruto said in a condescending tone as he walked away with Dosu in tow. "Tell you what; why don't you think about it after you calm down and meet us back here if you're willing. Love to stay and chat and everything but I'll be going now. Bye!"

Not waiting to listen for any reply, Sakura and Lee's voices grew distant as Naruto and Dosu left the scene. The scarred Chuunin just didn't feel like he had the tolerance to deal with Sakura's presence then, and yet he wanted to talk to someone as well about everything that'd been happening around him.

Naruto felt Dosu tap his shoulder and turned around to see what he wanted when, after looking over his shoulder, found he and his subordinate were not alone anymore.

"Hinata?"

"Um, h-hello, Naruto-kun."

Finding the atmosphere between his master and the Hyuuga girl grow slightly uncomfortable, Dosu promptly took his chance to leave, saying something about he needed to find his team mates before rapidly leaping away through the forest back down to the village, leaving the two alone.

Despite his gratitude toward Dosu for leaving them alone, Naruto felt even more uncomfortable than beforehand. The reason for his discomfort was the fact that he'd more or less neglected to visit the Hyuuga girl during her time recovering after her fight with her cousin, Hyuuga Neji, the Hyuuga Clan's prodigy from the Branch Family.

It was during the Chuunin Exam Prelims during the Second Stage held inside the tower center of the Forest of Death. Despite her efforts and skill, Hinata had nearly been killed by the Hyuuga prodigy, her own cousin, simply because she held her in contempt because of an event over ten years ago that resulted in his father's death to act as Hyuuga Haishi's body-double in a trade with Kumogakure no Sato to prevent war.

At the time, Naruto believed the pompous bastard was simply using her as an outlet to release his anger, and used the Exam match as a means to attack the Main Family, if indirectly, for binding him into servitude for people that would toss away lives at their own convenience. Still, that gave him no right to nearly kill her for something beyond her control and had nothing to do with her aside from family relation, and Naruto promised Neji he would beat him the next time they fought.

Shortly after that event passed, Naruto had met Jiraiya, and the old man had begun teaching him how to summon the Kyuubi's chakra at will to combat the Hyuuga prodigy. He'd trained for an entire month with little to no rest, and just when he was sure he couldn't succeed in time for the match, Naruto learned how to access the Kyuubi's chakra at will after being tossed into a ravine by Jiraiya, summoning Gama Bunta, the boss of all toad summons.

Early morning on the day of the Chuunin Exam Tournament, Naruto took a detour, wandering through Field 14, where he and his team mates were qualified into a squad with Hatake Kakashi as the team leader. Throughout the night before and the morning following, he'd felt a sense of forebodding, and unease, wondering if he even had the skills to not only fight Neji, whom he felt was strong in his own right, but Gaara of the Sand, as well as Sasuke. Suffice to say, Naruto would have lied had he said he was undaunted. He'd almost considered it hopeless to fight Neji, considering his abyssmal skills back then.

That was where he found Hinata, standing with her back facing him beside the same three logs he remembered so well, considering he'd been tied to one after trying to cheat in Kakashi's survival exercise.

After a brief exchange of greetings with Hinata hiding behind one of the stumps on Naruto's presence, he confided to the Hyuuga girl that he'd mostly just put up a front and lost confidence when he thought about fighting her cousin, especially since he made so many mistakes in his life.

And yet in spite of all his flaws, Hinata told him she looked to him for inspiration; not because that he wasn't perfect, but because he always got back on his feet after every fall he made, and became better as a result of his fortitude. Feeling enboldened by her encouraging words, Naruto's confidence returned and turned away to head back to the stadium.

Still, there was also one additional problem he still had to deal with:

Hinata also saw his Kyuubi eye. How could he go explaining that without arousing more suspicion?

"So, um, Hinata. How've you been? You know, since..." Naruto asked, though trailed off at the end of his question.

At least Hinata caught on to his meaning. "Um, fine. The doctors at the hospital tell me to not do too much streneous activity until I've finished healing. Kiba-kun's been out on patrol with Akamaru and Shino-kun's training with his father. Kurenai-sensei's been on mission-leave for three days now after being sent to the villages on the border."

"I'm...glad you're feeling better." Naruto said with difficulty.

They lasped into silence once more, and air was getting too uncomfortable for the blond Chuunin's liking. _'Fuck it. This is getting nowhere fast. I may as well ask her now.'_

Naruto cleared his throat, getting Hinata's attention. "Listen, Hinata. I know you're wondering about...what happened on our last mission. But some of what I say might be hard to accept, so...do you want me to tell you?"

For a moment, Hinata said nothing, just staring at Naruto with a strange, vacant expression. Like she wasn't seeing him, but seeing past him at something else. Then, growing bolder, she took a step closer until she was an arm's reach away. Her hand came up and gently traced some of the scars on Naruto's face, which suddenly flushed with heat. Glancing slightly down, he saw Hinata's was perhaps more red than his own at the moment. He'd never been touched so intimately before.

"Do they hurt?" Hinata asked quietly, tracing the scar on the bridge of his nose.

"No. They don't hurt, but they can't feel anything at all. They're numb." Naruto answered, unable to look Hinata in her eyes.

Dragging her finger down the scar over Naruto's cheek and lips, Hinata said, "I don't know what happened at the Bandit Fort on our last mission. I don't know why you want to keep it a secret. And I was scared at first when I saw the eye-" She tapped at his hitai-ate shield, "-under your headband. But I also know you're the same Naruto-kun I've always admired. I know you'll tell me when the time comes. I trust you, Naruto-kun."

After hearing Hinata's answer, Naruto felt ashamed even more being her friend yet hiding so much from her. He shook his head slowly. "I'm not the same anymore, Hinata. I've changed. And I'm not kind."

"What about the women and children we saved?" Hinata shot back. "You saved them and brought them all back alive to our home. You might've changed a bit, but you're still the same person. Just different."

"These scars, you mean?!" Naruto demanded, voice turning hard. "Or is it the fact I'm a killer now?"

"You're still Naruto-kun." Hinata said gently. "And I believe you always will be. That's more than enough for me."

Thankful for Hinata's compassion, Naruto felt his anger ebb away. "Thank you, Hinata. I'm glad I'm your friend."

"Hee-Hee-Hee-Hee..."

Naruto's spine went stiff, and Hinata gave a startled jump at the sound. That perverted laugh was familiar and unmistakable. And it was coming from right above them.

Naruto and Hinata bothed looked up into the tree branches where, sitting on one of the thicker braches, they spotted Jiraiya, writing in his perverted note book while giggling with one of the most lecherous grins Naruto had seen to date, and that was saying something.

"OI!! ERO-SENNIN!!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at the perverted hermit. "Get your mind outta the gutter and stop writing dumb shit about me and Hinata!"

"Shut up, gaki. I'm on a roll here!" Jiraiya shot back, writing even more quickly than before. "Hey, ask Hinata-chan to do some more tenderly scenes. This stuff'll be worth theiry weight in GOLD once I publish it all in my new book 'Icha Icha Romance'-"

Jiraiya's monologue was cut short by a rock hitting the old man square in the face. The hit caused Jiraiya's balance to falter, and fell to the ground, landing on his head.

"Serves you right, Hentai-jiji!" Naruto huffed, smacking his hands clean after throwing the stone.

Jiraiya was still twitching on the ground where he'd fallen, and Hinata took that chance to satisfy her curiosity by taking a quick peek inside the note book the Frog Sennin had dropped. Before Naruto could stop her, Hinata had turned to the most recently written page and, not seconds afterward, flushed so red Naruto feared she'd faint from the blood rush.

"Hinata! Put that thing down!!" Naruto exclaimed, yanking the aforementioned item out of her hands and tossing it away into the foliage like it was a bomb ready to go off. When he turned back around, huffing from the sudden exertion, the Hyuuga heiress' face was still flushed, except she had a barely concealed smile on her face as she twiddled her fingers together. "The crap this pervert writes will rot your brain with all its filth. Besides, this stuff's for adults."

Jiraiya "hmphed" angrily, dusting off his haori coat free of dirt and grass. "Don't call my master-pieces 'filth', baka. It's perfectly natural curiosity to look into sex." Then Jiraiya leered at them. "Besides, you're not one to point fingers considering you invented that Oiroki no Jutsu. And you call me a pervert."

Naruto sighed, rubbing at his forehead where he felt a head ache quickly forming. "Did you want something? I can't imagine you coming all the way up here just for more 'research' material....actually, that's exactly what you'd do."

"You've got a new mission, and you're leaving tomorrow morning." Jiraiya said, all pretext of humor gone. "Tsunade needs you to sneak into Iwagakure and take some documents, anything that might be related to their armed forces or their mobilization routes. And we need you back within three days, minimum."

"I'll be back within two." Naruto said confidently. "Am I going alone?"

"No; Hinata-chan here and Dosu will accompany you. The Council members thought it best to have additional shinobi act as distractions during your infiltration to draw enemies away from your position."

Naruto nodded, understanding Jiraiya's reasoning. Being a Hyuuga, Hinata's vision would permit her to see across vast distances to watch for approaching enemies. Dosu himself would be invaluable considering his skill with sound waves and having hyper-sensitive hearing, as his skills could make for a total silent entry, but also as a secondary lookout for any enemies coming from any place Hinata herself couldn't track. And when it came to sneaking into places, Naruto's skills were second to none in that department.

"I'll leave tomorrow at sunrise." Naruto said, tugging at his hitai-ate. "Rules of engagement?"

"Official orders are to not engage unless attacked, especially inside Iwa's border."

Naruto could see Jiraiya's expression didn't match his words. "And unofficially?"

Jiraiya smirked. "Kill any you come across, and don't hesitate. Any loss of their numbers will help in our main battle." Then he shrugged. "Of course, that's just my suggestion. Just an option."

"Right." Naruto drawled, smirking. "Just an option." One he'd follow through with any Iwa-nin on sight. "Anything else, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya thought about it for a second. "Yeah, just one more thing." Then he smacked Naruto up-side his head. "Stop calling me that!!"

Naruto, pissed at the old man for smacking him again, kicked Jiraiya -extra hard, he might add- right where a man is his strongest, and weakest:

His crotch.

Leaving behind the old man to writhe in agony on the ground, Naruto left the scene with Hinata in tow only a few steps behind. He had a lot of preparations to make, and little time to do them.

Of course, he also had to find Dosu, where ever the hell he ran off to.

The blond Chuunin huffed, irritated. He never got a break, did he?

* * *

Dosu awoke to the sun shining in his good eye through the window blinds. Groaning from his interrupted sleep, the former Oto-nin sat up and rubbed at his eyes, ruffled his hair, scratched his neck. A hiss of pain escaped his lips when he felt a sharp burning sensation on his sides and back. When he brought his hand up to inspect, his eye widened in alarm.

Fingernail scratches. And done by someone with very sharp cuticles.

"Mmmmn."

Startled, Dosu looked to his right where, laying in (his?) bed beside him was a blond girl, legs to her chest with her back facing him and, by all accounts, was completely naked.

And she looked familiar. Where did he...?

_'Oh, that's right.'_ Dosu thought, _'That Gaara of the Sand. She's his team mate. Fought that girl with the hair-buns and load of ningu.'_ Then another thought came to mind. _'But she's from Sunagakure. What the hell's she doing here? And on that note,'_ He glanced down at himself, lifting up the bed sheets around his waist. _'Did I sleep with her?'_

Dosu groaned, feeling a headache blossom in his forehead. _'Memories all foggy. Did she drug me? No, aftertaste in my mouth smells like alcohol. Great, I got drunk and can't even remember rutting with this girl--What's her name again? Oh, right. Temari.'_

Said girl in question suddenly stirred, turning over and sitting up, causing the sheets to slip off her body, revealing her nakedness as she stretched her arms above her head. Her hair was free from their four wolf-tails, and fell to her shoulders. Despite himself, Dosu's attention strayed to her pert breasts, tempted by their shape, size, and feminine color.

"You're drooling, perv." Temari said playfully, dark green eyes full of mirth.

Dosu knew he wasn't, but still found her accusation annoying. "I had a lot of sake last night and can't remember where we met or where we are. Care to explain, Temari?"

"My my, so hostile all of a sudden!" She chirped, crawling over to him on her hands and knees, wrapping her arms around his neck. "But if you must know, I'll refresh your memory. You wandered into the Red Light District before the sun set, looking for your team mates from what you told me. Then you ran into me, sitting at a ramen stand and sampling all the different sake brands. I waved you over, recognizing the gauntlet on your arm.

"I was surprised at first when I saw you. I thought my brother had killed you."

"Gaara's your brother?" Dosu asked incredously. "What about Kankuro?"

"Also my brother. I'm the eldest sibling between the three of us. Can I finish?"

"By all means." Dosu said. He noticed she didn't release her hold on him, and didn't look ready to anytime soon.

"Anyway, I wave you over, you recognize me and get all alert and tense, like you're expecting my little brother to pop out of nowhere and kill you again. I tell you he isn't in Konoha and you relax. You almost turn away to leave when I called you over to share some drink and ramen together; I get a little lonely eating all by my lonesome, so I wanted some company. I asked you how you survived and you told me the new Hokage healed you, taking you out of your coma."

"I think I can guess the rest of the details." Dosu said, leaning his head back. "We share a couple drinks, I get a little drunk, and at some point or other, you invite me to your room and we started rutting like animals. Am I close?"

"Almost." Temari stated softly, running her hand down Dosu's lean chest. "Actually you said you'd take the couch to sleep off the sake. But then you got a little frisky with me, whispering suave words in my ears and inhaling my scent from my neck, touching my breasts and everything." She pulled Dosu closer, smashing her breasts against his chest. "You seduced me. And now you'll take responsibility for it."

"Just don't expect me to be all lovey-dovey or anything. That horse-shit makes me sick."

Temari hummed, like it was an agreement. "Fine. So-", she said, pushing Dosu on his back, "any more questions before we go on to the main event?"

"...Why are you here in Konoha anyway? I learned Suna reenstated their truce, but how come you came here when you could've been met with hostility?"

"Aaah, how sweet of you!" Temari quiped, still smiling. "Truth is, Hokage-dono had sent an envoy days earlier to negotiate terms for the new peace treaty between Konoha and Suna. I only recieved word just yesterday that Iwa's getting ready to start a war with Konoha, so I gave my message along with Tsunade-dono's and sent it back to my village by carrier-pidgeon for reenforcements, in the event of an attack on the village itself. Seeing as how Suna and Oto left so many Konoha-nins dead, Suna thought it was their best means of earning Konoha's trust again."

"Makes sense", Dosu agreed, scratching at his hair. Though not one to delve too deeply into the intricacies of politics, Dosu knew enough of how its infrastructure worked when dealing with relations between villages. Something as simple as trade shortages between different countries lead to paranoia and suspicion to the other party. Nowadays, peace was maintained by securing the "middle-path" as it were so everyone is satisfied without having to end disputes violently.

Of course, those days ended when Oto and Suna started their attack on Konoha. At that point, war had been reintroduced back into the shinobi village societies. Now the whole continent was perhaps tetering on a knife's edge toward total chaotic war with feudes spreading across to neighboring countries. And in the midst of all that resulting destruction, hundreds of thousands of lives would perish.

Maybe that's why he chose to use his skills for the service of Uzumaki. Maybe he could redeem himself for his mistakes under the servitude of Orochimaru.

Dosu didn't want to think about any of that stuff anymore. He rolled over on top of Temari, who gave a surprised squeak when his hand grabbed her breast and kissed her. She made no protest and moaned pleasantly at his ministrations.

Separating from her lips, Dosu settled between her spread legs. "Shall we proceed to the main event?"

Temari smiled seductively as her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling the sound-user's pelvis against hers. That was all the incentive he needed.

Hours later, maybe two or three if he checked a clock, Dosu awoke to the sound of a booming knock on the door. Beside him, Temari slept soundly, unperturbed about the pounding outside.

Sighing tiredly, Dosu slipped on his pants, hopped out of the bed, and walked to the door, opening it to see who it was. After having to squint in the bright light of morning sun, his eyes managed to focus and see the figure.

"About damn time I found you." Naruto huffed, hands on his hips like he was admonishing a misbehaving child. "Had to ask over a dozen damn people to find out where you went last night. Did you even find your team mates-?"

Temari took that same moment to moan in her sleep, tossing in her sleep and drawing the covers around her, attracting Naruto's attention to the bed. Not surprisingly, the blond Chuunin's cheeks reddened slightly, and he politely turned his gaze away in the other direction, toward the door to spare her privacy. Despite Dosu's embarrassment, he wondered whether or not Naruto recognized the Suna girl.

"Well, um, that answers my earlier question." Naruto said uneasily, ruffling his spiky hair. He cleared his throat and set his face into a neutral expression. "Anyway, get dressed and packed for a three-day leave. We've been assigned a new mission, A-class."

"I'll be ready in ten minutes." Dosu replied, "Where are we meeting?"

"I'll give you five minutes." Naruto answered with a smirk. "We're meeting at the North Gate. I'll see you there."

And then Naruto was gone, vanishing in a flicker of motion. Dosu drew back in surprise despite himself, but didn't waste time in gathering his clothes and weapons. Once finished, he looked back at the sleeping Temari, wondering if he should bother waking her up just to say goodbye, then thought better of it. No need to act too intimately with a girl after one night in bed with them. After closing and locking the door behind him, Dosu took to the rooftops to avoid the foot traffic in the main streets, leaping across building tops two at a time. He encountered maybe two or three other ANBU on the rooftops just monitoring their respected areas, all on high alert and battle-ready. The sound-user almost ran into another Chuunin not three streets away from his destination, carrying several scrolls and making a hasty run toward Hokage Tower.

Reaching the courtyard at the North Gate, Dosu landed lightly in a crouch, spying Naruto, Hinata and, surprisingly, Uchiha Sasuke as well, dressed in the same one-piece suit as he wore during the Chuunin Exam's Tournament, with the leg sleeves lengthened to reach his middle shins.

"You didn't mention Uchiha would be part of the mission." Dosu remarked as he approached Uzumaki.

"My participation in this mission was last minute." Sasuke said to Dosu's right, arms folded and apparently impatient to get the mission underway. "Kakashi spoke to Tsunade-sama about how you'd need extra shinobi, since just three alone were too few and I happen to be available." His tone was factual, even, but then changed to a harder tone. "Tell me, Kinuta. Are you gonna run away again like last time? Like a coward?"

"What happened in the Forest of Death regarding my actions were no more or less what anyone else would do." Dosu stated flatly, not taking Sasuke's baiting provocations. "But if you'd like a one-on-one match, bring it on."

"That's enough." Naruto interjected, hoping to stop any violent conflict. "As of right now, we're an infiltration squad, and I'm the team leader. You will abide by my commands, and do so without question if we are engaged in combat or are inside enemy territory. Dosu will act as second in command. Hinata will lead in the front, I will follow her, Sasuke will be behind me, and Dosu will guard the rear. We'll need to get and back within three days, minimum, but I'm thinking of cutting off a day altogether and be back within two, so we'll be moving fast.

"Official orders are to not engage any enemies unless attacked. Our main focus is speed and stealth. Any questions?"

Sasuke stepped up. "What is the objective of our mission exactly?"

"You, Dosu and Hinata are to provide a diversion while I infiltrate into Iwagakure and steal some scrolls, any kind that might be linked to their amassing forces or mobilizing routes. After we have the necessary documents in hand, we'll make a fast retreat back to Konoha."

Having finished his explanation of the mission details, Naruto went to double-checking his supplies in his backpack, as did Hinata and Sasuke. Dosu couldn't do the same since he had no other clothes, supplies or weapons aside from the ones he had on his person since last night.

"Dosu. Catch!" Naruto called out to Dosu, tossing a pack at him which the sound-user caught with little difficulty. A quick inspection inside the pack showed three pairs of additional clothes, medical supplies, food rations, water, and additional ningu.

"Clothes, weapons and supplies given courtesy of Inuzuka Tsume-san." Naruto said, grinning. "Is everyone ready to move?"

When everyone gave their nods of affermation, Naruto took the lead outside the gates, letting Hinata take the front point, himself second, Sasuke behind him, and Dosu in the rear as they took to the trees.

They had two days to get to Iwa and back. Their trip wouldn't be a pleasant one.

* * *

It was dark out in the forest just outside the village parameters. To be more accurate, the "forest" itself comprised of mostly large bushes and shrubs than trees, as the terrain and soil was far too rocky to provide much suitable conditions for larger trees, as only the "thinner" variety could sink their roots into rock without falling over on their own weight, as it would with the larger, heavier evergreens such as in Konoha. Because the trees were so scattered and spaced apart, the canopy was open and allowed the light from the waning moon to spill through the branches, illuminating the clearing around two particular Chuunin.

Kota Nagano yawned, bored to near tears with how uneventful the night was going. He and his partner Jubei were given guard duty to patrol around the Iwa village border, in the event of any would-be infiltrators or night-raiders.

Or worse, shinobi from Konoha.

The Tsuchikage relaid orders for increasing security, as he had suspicions that the infiltration party sent into Konoha territory were captured and interrogated, which might alert Konohagakure about their plans and send a squadron to retaliate. Now there were twenty shinobi working in shifts around the clock for border patrols and fifteen of the top-ranking skilled ANBU guarding the Tsuchikage himself inside and out of his tower.

Kota seriously thought their village leader was growing as paranoid as Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure.

Still, as the Tsuchikage taught all his shinobi; never hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. His leader never took chances or risks, and Kota respected the man for that quality, even if his views were very militaristic and totalitarian. If anyone ever acted outside of his authority or his commands, they were either swiftly punished or executed.

Perhaps that's why Iwagakure boasted the most battle-hardened shinobi between all the five major countries. They were willing to kill at the drop of a hat so they could solidify their own future.

"Hey Jubei! Time to change shifts! My turn to rest." Kota called, waking up his sleeping partner who was lounging with his back against a large stone in the ground. Jubei grumbled under his breath as he stood up on his feet, stretching his arms above his head. Then Jubei's eyes widened, as if shocked, then pointed at something behind Kota, opening his mouth as if shouting.

Yet no sound came out. Kota couldn't even hear the rustle of the leaves in the trees or bushes from the breeze. All was silence.

A silence spell. Someone just put a barrier around them to neutralize any sounds in the area.

Just as Kota started to turn, he felt a pinch around his back and chest, like he'd been pricked with a needle. His head was half-turned over his shoulder when he brought his gaze back around to his chest.

A blood-tipped blade protruded from his sternum, completely through his flak-vest and armor beneath it. He knew he should be in agony, yet he didn't feel any pain. His heart had been pierced through, yet all he felt was a numbing sensation spread through his chest.

Poison. The blade was laced with numbing toxins, he deduced, even as his vision darkened and saw his partner struck down by a dark-haired boy with glowing red eyes, kunais embedding into his skull with merciless precision. Jubei dropped lifelessly into the grass without a sound.

The blade in his chest withdrew from his body, and Kota felt himself falling, dropping as if from a great height down onto the loam, face down yet able still to keep his vision in line with his killers. A sandaled foot stepped over his body, walking away from him as he joined the red-eyed boy and two others that emerged from the darkness of the forest; a pale-eyed girl and another dark-haired young man with a gauntlet on his right arm.

His killer turned around to face him in his final moments of life, and Kota saw a boy's face, no older than thirteen, face scarred and a head-band covering his left eye. His blond hair rustled in the soft breeze, yet his deep blue eye stared coldly at him, like he was just another notch on the deathtoll he'd been marking. Then he and the others turned away toward Iwa, leaving him to die.

Damn it all, to die by a kid's hand. What a way to go.

Kota took his final breath, felt his heart pulse once more in his open chest, then died.

* * *

Their infiltration went off without a hitch, encountering no resistance or trouble with any other patrolling Iwa-nins. Naruto was crouched atop the roof of one of the more ramshackle apartment complexes, waiting for the signal. Hinata would relay directions using her Byakuugan via their transmitters, as well as keep an eye out for any enemy shinobi, while Dosu and Sasuke drew the attention of the village's main forces while he snuck inside the Kage Tower.

Naruto readjusted the vambrace under his sleeve, one his newest weapon additions which housed a double-edged blade more than a foot long and as sharp as a kunai knife, dripping with nerve-numbing poison. If fists came to blows, not even the strongest man could endure even a nick from his blades. They'd proven their effectiveness on the patrolling Iwa-nin he killed just moments ago, yet even as he cleaned them free of blood, knowing that it was necessary, he still couldn't look Hinata in the eyes, to ashamed or guilty of taking life so callously. He'd only caught a glimpse of her stricken expression as he withdrew his vambrace-blade from the Iwa Chuunin's back, saw her cringe and look away as he wiped the blood of his weapon. Maybe he felt terrible about it because he may very well disregard life without any concern or consequence as he killed people.

_'Being a killer is part of the job. At least they pass away quickly and painlessly, a mercy most others wouldn't extend to their victims. It's in your nature; it's in your very blood. Just accept it being a part of you and move on.'_

Naruto really hated it when Doki spoke to him like that, using his own voice to justify murder.

_'Murder is taking life for one's own selfish and twisted ends. Killing in itself at least serves a purpose, if under the proper conditions and intentions.'_

Naruto accepted the truth in that. Killing someone that attacked someone else or in service for the protection of their home wasn't murder. Murder was when a jealous husband would kill his wife for leaving him. Murder would be the act of killing someone defenseless, innocent, or uninvolved in the issues of the killer himself.

Murders were done for selfish, and often cruel and twisted reasons. Killing in itself, as Doki said, served a purpose, at the very least.

Still, that didn't mean he had to like it.

Naruto was snapped out of his inner musings as a series of loud explosions blasted along some of the outer streets, sending up a mushroom cloud of black smoke and red fire, bathing the surrounding area in garish red light. The first set of explosive tags detonating.

Hinata's voice spoke over the transmitter in Naruto's ear. _"Now's your chance. Most of the Iwa-nins are coming this way from the east, so your route should be clear until you reach the center district. Avoid the main roads; there're a alot of people still walking outside, but their rushing back to their homes after hearing the explosion. How much time do you need?"_

Naruto pressed on the transmitter button at his throat. "I'll need fifteen minutes, minimum. Can you do that?"

_"We'll do what we can. Hinata, out."_ Then the comlink was off.

Naruto had to give Hinata her due respect; she knew her job, and she was doing it spectacularly. Despite having seen him and Sasuke kill the patrol shinobi, she still maintained a cool composure despite her hesitance towards violence.

_'Maybe she trusts you.'_ Doki whispered, sneering. _'Or perhaps she wants to impress you and make you notice her. Kind of silly to go through that much trouble when she only need to strip off her unattractive clothes-'_

Naruto hastily tuned out Doki's voice, cheeks aflame but his anger simmering to a boiling point. It's one thing to make a joke, it's something else completely different when refering to someone like they were sex objects. Shoving that unpleasant thought in the back of his mind, he tredged on, keeping his footsteps quick but silent.

Even as Naruto moved swiftly across the rooftops of the buildings toward the Kage Tower, Iwa-nins frequently appeared nearby, forcing him to take cover in the shadows of allies and overhang roofs. He'd nearly been spotted twice, yet managed to avoid detection as the Iwa-nins were more concentrated on investigating the explosions thundering behind the blond Chuunin. He ducked underneath a roof overhang by a tea shop.

Naruto wished he could just make himself invisible, but hadn't yet gotten to learning that skill just yet. Maybe he could ask Jiraiya to teach him a Ninjutsu or Genjutsu to do just that.

When the blond Chuunin finally reached the Kage Tower, the explosions in the distance were dwindling in frequency, meaning Dosu and Sasuke were running low on explosives to provide distractions. He had maybe five minutes, or less to get what he needed and make a hasty retreat back home. After making another check for any chakra signatures nearby, Naruto leapt with all the strength in his legs, carrying him through the air upward for a good thirty paces, angling for the wall while channeling chakra to his hands and feet just before touching down, anchoring himself against the wall with his chakra. He turned his head to look over his shoulder, spying the columns of smoke and fire from the explosions which made a trail west-ward of the village, many Iwa-nins at the scenes to put out the fires.

Then he looked upward and started climbing, scaling up the wall like a lizard climbing a rock face.

By the time Naruto reached the top window, there were no more explosions, meaning Dosu and Sasuke were out of explosive tags and taking cover away in hiding as he instructed them to. Focusing back on the task at hand, Naruto took out a lock pick from his rear pouch and slipped it in between the sliding window panes, twisting the pick around until it caught on the locking latch and flipped it open.

Sliding open the window, Naruto blew out a sigh of relief; no alarms or traps had been set nor gone off on his intrusion. Taking a cautious step inside, Naruto scanned around inside the dark office, wishing he either had better night-vision or could turn on some lights. Seeing as both options weren't available to him, he walked over to the hard-wood desk set against the wall, much like Tsunade's office except for the furniture arrangement. He rummaged through several papers and documents spread on the desk, mostly just about trade costs and regulation changes with personnel in different districts, rewrites of specific laws and listings of new shinobi adding to the ranks.

Finding nothing yet, Naruto checked the trash bins. Most of the documents were either shredded or incinerated. Dumping all the bins empty onto the floor and coming up empty for anything valuable, the blond Chuunin then went to the scroll vault parallel to the desk. But when he opened the door leading to the vault, a solid stone wall stood in the way with a mass of protective seal runes and arrays all set in a circular formation, supported by a square-formation array, and finally paper talismans set at each of the four corners of the square-formation. A seal-set lock like this was nearly impossible to get past, unless one had the proper chakra signature that set up the seal in the first place, as well as the passphrase required to dispell the traps set within each seal formula.

Naruto had neither. Setting his chin in his hand, he stared hard at the stone slab, contemplating. Dispelling or removing all these seal formulas were beyond him, at least at present, and even if he did have those skills on hand, he was hard-pressed for time. He had to do something; destroying the slab itself would trigger a fatal explosion that would blast his body to pieces, if his regenerative abilities couldn't withstand the attack, and trying to dispel one seal formula would only initiate a "restoration" seal, which would quickly replace the formula he dispelled and send out an alarm.

Then he had an idea. He kniew this seal array was beyond his skills and couldn't despell all the seals at once, as he would have to. But, if he were to cut _through_ all the seal formulas at the same time...

Bringing his hand up in a silence gesture, Naruto whispered, "Shikoku Fuuin", channeling his chakra to his fingertips which glowed with teal-green energy like a small flame. Once done, he brought his left hand to the top of the seal, and his right hand on the right side of the seal, dragging his glowing fingertips across the seal formulas, etching a deep furrow into the stone. In the wake of his engraving, the seals that his finger cut through glowed a garish red before fading all together, their magic dispersed. In no time, the whole locking seal was gone, leaving behind only a criss-crossing horizontal and vertical scratch in the stone surface. Even the talismans were destroyed, consumed in fire.

That finished, Naruto then created a Rasengan in his left hand and began drilling through the stone slab, keeping his senses alert for any approaching enemies. Within a thirty-count as he grinded down the stone slab into dust, which accumulated at his feet, a large hole yawned in the center of it, more than enough space to permit entry. After one last cursory inspection on his surroundings, Naruto slipped inside the vault, being careful not to step on any wire-traps or pressure-boards.

Passing his hands across the various scrolls piled atop another on many shelves and cupboards spanning the walls, Naruto was finding nothing of decent interest. Most were files about shinobi recently promoted to various positions and ranks, down to uninteresting Ninjutsus. One of the Jutsu scrolls caught his attention, labeled A-rank. A quick read-through reveled it had all the details about an invisibility technique called _Meisaigakure no Jutsu_. He stuffed it into his rear pouch for later research.

Five minutes into his inspection and yielding no progress, Naruto was growing more anxious and frustrated until, at last, he found something. A scroll not completely slid back against the wall. Unfurling the scroll, Naruto's eyes widened, and he grinned.

Attack points, travel routes, armed shinobi listed, even the ranks of the soldiers for specific routes ranging from Iwa toward Konoha, as well as points inside Konoha country borders leading straight to the village.

_'Perfect'_, Naruto thought ecstatically._ 'Now we know when and where they'll attack, and all we need to do is prepare a counter-offensive.'_

Quickly leaping out of the vault room, Naruto turned back around to face the open vault, pulling out a letter bomb from his rear pouch, then igniting it with a spark of chakra and tossing it inside the storeroom. While waiting for the detonation, Naruto pressed at the radio com at his throat. "Hinata, this is Uzumaki. I have the package now. Make for an immediate retreat on the double and don't stop for anything. I'll rendezvous with you all within the hour. Hinata, do you copy?"

"I hear you Naruto-kun." Hinata answered, huffing from some physical strain or exertion. "Sasuke-san is in full retreat, but I lost sight of Dosu-san. There are heavy reinforcements gathering around the explosions, and you have roughly twenty Iwa-nins coming up on the Kage Tower as we speak. You need to leave now, while their attentions are focused on-"

The com line suddenly disconnected, leaving behind dread-filling silence with static in the background. Did she get attacked while reporting back to him, or had her com device malfunctioned? Interference from the Iwa-nins themselves?

A slight tremor shook through the foundation of the tower, snapping Naruto's attention back to the present. The shaking was too low and quick to be natural, so it must've been from an Iwa-nin's Doton Jutsu no doubt. That would explain the com signal severing. The vibrations must've jarred the radio com links and made them short-circuit, or something along those lines.

A sizzling hiss alerted Naruto that his explosive tag was about to detonate, so he hopped over beside the wall beside the vault to avoid any rocketing debris, covering his ears just seconds before the letter bomb exploded with bone-shaking force that rattled the entire foundation of the room, if not the upper tower itself, blasting out a choking cloud of dust, smoke and ash from the incinerated scrolls and documents. Opening his eyes to the dust and smog, Naruto coughed and waved some of the dust out of his face as he made his way over to the window to make his escape, allowing the choking cloud of dust and smoke to escape. Hopefully Sasuke, Dosu and Hinata were already in full retreat and would avoid any pursuers-

Naruto suddenly drew to a stop, feeling something at the edge of his senses. His instincts were sending off alarms in his head that enemies were close by and, after taking another second to gauge the vibrations running through the floor. If he concentrated, he could almost "feel" the footsteps of three figures rushing up the stairs to investigate the explosion, no doubt. He didn't know whether it was his instincts hightening his senses or his paranoia, but figured he'd leave anyway, seeing as he already overstayed his welcome.

Before he even touched the window, however, the door on the other side of the office was kicked in, snapped off its hinges and falling flat on the floor where three Iwa-nins stood in the doorway. Looking back at them, Naruto's expression was the "hand caught in the cookie jar" surprised.

The head Iwa-nin, a Jounin by how he carried himself and his chakra levels radiating off his form, stepped inside the room and growled at Naruto, face twisted in a rictus of fury. "Little shit! I'll bet all those explosions were YOUR doing just to get inside here! Well now you're going to come with us and be interrogated-"

The Iwa Jounin got no further as, wasting no time, Naruto used his _Shikoku Fuin_ and "scribbled" a sealing formula in the air, tracing an abstract pattern with the trailing light of his glowing fingertips, channeling his chakra to his hand and gathering the accumulated energy into his fingers. Pointing his hand toward the three Iwa-nins, Naruto whispered:

"Fuuinjutsu: Byakuu Rai!"

A beam of pure white light shot from his forefingers, blasting clean through two of the Iwa-nins' chests and catching the third in his arm, the former stumbling back in shock from the unexpected attack and falling over backward, dying as internal bleeding suddenly filled their lungs, slowly drowning them. The third shinobi was too preoccupied trying to keep his right arm from falling off his shoulder, as Naruto's _Byakuu Rai_ blast hit the man's arm between the bicep and shoulder. His groans and yells of pain fell on deaf ears as Naruto jumped out of the window, somersaulting as he went and flinged an explosive tagged kunai into the open window as he let gravity do its work, controlling his descent to the nearby rooftops of the markets.

Not but seconds on landing hard in a crouch, the top office of the Kage Tower exploded in a blast of raging fire, smoke and flaming debris, showering down onto the streets and some barely missing the blond Chuunin; maybe he shouldn't use such a powerful letter bomb next time. Not waiting to meet the welcoming party on their way to investigate the explosions, Naruto then used another Ninjutsu he only recently learned how to execute, but figured it would save him on time instead of trekking on foot.

After carefully gathering chakra to knees, feet, and toes, waited until his chakra had sufficiently balanced in his feet until he made his jump. A glance to his left and right told him he had to hurry, if the sheer number of Iwa-nins fast closing in were any indication. There were more than ten platoons swarming to him, all of which were hoping across the building rooftops and side-streets to cut off any escape route.

"Shunpo no Jutsu!"

The world around Naruto's perception suddenly blurred, becoming nothing more than indistinct trails of light in his vision as his teleportation carried him away in a flicker of motion. As opposed to the average _Shunshin no Jutsu_, which instantly teleported the user from one destination to another, Naruto's _Shunpo no Jutsu_ acted more like an instantaneous "jump", where he could "hop" from one point to another as with _Shunshin_, only he was able to control the distance and changes in mid-jump to alter his course and didn't require hand seals.

One instant he was there-

-The next instant, blinking, Naruto stood alone in the same spot where he and Sasuke dispatched those patrol shinobi. He touched at his radio com urgently. "Hinata, this is Uzumaki. Confirm your position as well as Dosu's and Sasuke's. Over!"

"We're on our way back to the rendezvous point now." Hinata answered breathlessly, "I have Sasuke-san and Dosu-san in tow, but we're being pursued, maybe twenty strong. I don't think we can escape them on foot."

Not good. Naruto's _Shunpo_ technique was limited to only carrying himself and one other between jumps, so that left no other option but his _Fubaku Shunshin_. "Fend them off however you can, but make sure you get back here. I'll have a teleport ready on your arrival. Uzumaki, out!"

Once the com link cut off, Naruto pulled out one of his scrolls from his flak-vest pouch on his lower back, snapping out loose and spinning on his heel with the parchment trailing around into a circle, surrounding Naruto in a seven foot diameter. The whole of the paper was lined with seal formulas and ember-like runes, which he had painstakingly drew together the night before, which took the better part of three whole hours.

By the time Hinata, Sasuke and Dosu arrived, bringing the sound of heavy combat and loud curses in their wake, Naruto was already going through the hand seals to initiate his Ninjutsu. Dosu brought up the rear, fending off an attack by one of the Iwa-nins in mid-jump. The sound-user pulled back his gauntlet arm as it released a shrill, ear-splitting noise and slapped his hand against the Iwa-nin's chest, shattering his ribs and liquifying the organs within with his _Kyomeisen_ technique. The Iwa-nin dropped dead with a thud onto the soil, lifeless.

Dosu landed hard on his feet, breathing hard and ragged. His dark shirt was a mess of cuts and rips from his fight, and his left arm was cut right at the shoulder, a deep gash that rendered the limb practically immobile. Blood dripped from his fingers as it flowed down his arm. "How long before we can escape? I can't hold them off myself for very long." Dosu said, catching sight of another Iwa-nin leeping toward them, four more shinobi following close behind him. Dosu brought up his sound gauntlet and snarled out, "Ninpo; Otomori no Jutsu."

A literal "cone" or rippling air launched from his arm, leaving a trail of concentric rings as it shot toward the approaching Iwa-nins, striking the leading shinobi in the chest, ripping a perfect, bloody hole that took his whole upper-right torso, which also sheared off his right arm, flung away from the kinetic force of the blast. Two of the trailing Iwa-nins behind the first got clipped as well, one in the right shoulder, the other losing his left hand at the wrist.

Sasuke was already hard at work sending gouts of fire to any enemy within range, hands working furiously to execute his Katon Jutsus. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" he shouted, launching a giant ball of flame at a troupe of air-borne Iwa-nins coming in at the group from their left, hitting two and missing three others that used _Kawarimi_ with _Doro Bunshins _, leaving the mud clones to splatter into the grass with the charred bodies of the unfortunate Iwa-nins that weren't quick enough.

Growling impatiently, the Uchiha prodigy leapt into the air to intercept the Iwa-nins that evaded his fire ball, kunais drawn. He met the nearest opponent with a clash of steel, momentum spent after colliding with the Iwa-nin and begining to drop back to Earth. Sharingan eyes flaring red, Sasuke's hand slipped past the shinobi's guard and drove his kunai under the man's jaw, up into his skull and killing him. He used the dead Iwa-nin's body as a spring board, kicking off his chest and engaging the second Iwa-nin, an overconfident Chuunin that met the Uchiha's charge with a sneer. He managed to block Sasuke's initial punch and drove his knee into the Uchiha's belly, sending the Genin into the opposite direction toward a barren patch of baked dirt as the Chuunin landed against one of the thin trees, kicking off the trunk and making a fast leap toward the prone Sasuke, whom was just regaining his feet.

It came to the Iwa-nin's great surprise when he felt a hard, solid blow strike his belly from beneath him, shifting his air-borne path off where he crashed -face-first- into the trunk of another thin tree, breaking his neck. He tumbled down from the air and hit the ground hard, lying face down and only managed to catch a glimpse of Sasuke landing on his feet beside the prone Iwa-nin, which confused the man. A look back to the spot where he saw the dark-haired Genin land, he was still there, though only for another second before vanishing like a mirage.

The brat used a Genjutsu on him, making him see his "image" at one spot to strike at him from below where he didn't see him. The Iwa-nin's thoughts were cut off as he succumbed to unconsciousness, leaving Sasuke winded but otherwise unharmed. He quickly turned back to rejoin the battle beside his team.

Hinta too was hard at work fending off attackers, choosing to use her Jyuuken skills to render her opponents immobile, stunned and unconscious, hoping to avoid killing anyone else. She spun in a rapid twirl as one of her assailants jabbed at her with a kunai, missing her by inches as she tapped several tenketsus along his forearm, leaving the whole limb numb and paralyzed. A kick to the man's groin and a heel-kick to his temple knocked him out cold.

A volley of kunai whistled through the air, embedding into Hinata's back, only she "poofed" and a substituted log stood in her place, riddled with all the throwing knives intended for her. Through her Byakuugan's near 360 degree of vision, she saw the kunai coming and use _Kawarimi no Jutsu_ at the last instant, reappearing next to the nearest enemy shinobi and striking him several times in rapid succession in his chest and belly, throwing him onto his back where he didn't get back up.

_'Kami be damned!'_, Naruto thought desperately, using all his concentration to hold on to his teleportation technique. He could see all around him that they were quickly becoming surrounded by enemies and reinforcements were on their way, lessening their window of escape with every passing second. He'd already conjured twenty _Kage Bunshins_ around himself to fend off any enemies that came too close so he wouldn't be interrupted, and more than half were gone, either dispersed or exploding and taking Iwa-nins with them. If he didn't hurry up, they'd be overwhelmed within only moments.

Finishing the last hand seals, Naruto finally established the point of correspondence, his destination Konohagakure, and shouted, "Gather inside the circle now! We're leaving this hornet's nest!"

His team mates wasted no time in doing as he said, leaping away from their opponents and landing inside the parchment circle and surround the blond Chuunin with their backs facing him, leaving Naruto's Kage Bunshins spread out for their final task. The Doppelgangers rushed toward the oncoming Iwa-nins and, just as they came within range, simultaneously exploded like bombs, sending enemy shinobi flying in all directions away from the party.

"Kuchiyose: Fubaku Shunshin no Jutsu!"

An intense flare of red light flashed as the scroll seals burned glaring crimson, casting garish luminescence, before all four Konoha-nins vanished, leaving behind only the many wounded, dead, and befuddled Iwa-nins in their escape.

* * *

"That was extremely stupid of you!" Tsunade barked.

Naruto hung his head, unable to look at the Godaime in the eyes as she berated him.

"You nearly got your team killed!"

"I brought them back to Konoha alive and safe." Naruto countered.

"That was just dumb luck. Do you have any idea how close you were getting yourselves **_killed_**?!" Tsunade's voice was rising with every word, the last punctuated with a sharp yell.

"My team and myself knew the risks when we left for this mission. We were already aware of the possibility of an ambush when we met at the rendezvous point." Then Naruto shrugged, as if he had nothing else to further justify himself. "Surely you didn't expect our mission to go off without a hitch and stumbles along the way? There were no guarantees of this assignment's success to begin with. Just be happy we came back with the document we needed at all."

Tsunade huffed, exasperated, before throwing her hands up in defeat and turning back around to the table set in the middle of her office where Koharu, Homura, Jiraiya, Hiashi, Ibiki, and several Jounin including Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma, Raido, and Yuuhi Kurenai were standing around, all of whom had listened to the Godaime proceed to unleash a tongue-lashing on Naruto for the better part of five minutes. Off to Naruto's right, Dosu stood next to Sasuke, and he next to Shikamaru, all three of them leaning against the book shelf, unmoving and quiet.

Just seven hours ago, after their successful teleportation back into Konoha village, Naruto, Dosu, Sasuke and Hinata wordlessly went their separate ways to their own homes to rest after their exhausting ordeal, deciding to report back to Tsunade in the morning. The blond Jinchuuriki couldn't remember sleeping so soundly as the night before. At least until after he and Dosu recieved a severe tongue-lashing from Tsume-san upon their arrival at her front door, nearly two hours past midnight. Still, she looked very relieved and hugged them tightly after her anger had dissipated, relieved and happy for their safe return.

Naruto felt warm despite himself just recalling how good it felt to be hugged like that. Having so little affection from anyone even close to family left him deprived for physical contact. He almost felt ashamed how easily he wished Inuzuka Tsume would raise him like her own son, and make him part of a real family.

"We can't send our entire force to meet Iwa's army head-on." Koharu spoke suddenly, snapping Naruto's attention back to the present. He heard Sasuke snort mockingly from his right and barely resisted the urge to chuck a shuriken at him. "We neither have the sufficient numbers nor support from Sunagakure to combat such an overwhelming army. They number in over three thousand alone, more than our village and Suna have to boast combined! It's foolishness to fight them in their territory. We should await them here and attack behind the safety of our walls."

"If we don't send a force of shinobi to intercept Iwa's main forces, we'll be fighting them off for weeks, maybe months just keeping them from storming through the walls, and too many could easily breach our barriers and attack inside the village and tear it apart in the chaos." Ibiki interjected, tracing his finger along the path where the Iwa forces were supposedly taking on the table map.

Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai were lounging on one of the couches against the wall, sighing in exasperation as the debate for the proper course of action went on and on. That is, Kurenai sighed, while Asuma smoked his cigarette and Kakashi read his orange book "Icha Icha Paradise II", much to the chagrin of all the female occupants in the room.

It didn't take long for Jiraiya to follow their example, plopping himself a seat on the floor next to Kakashi, who sat at the left-hand side of the couch, fishing out a smoking pipe and lighting it with a puff of fire breath. The Frog Sennin and Asuma then went into an unspoken competition to blow smoke designs to amuse themselves, which made Naruto snicker. His sensei never ceased to make him laugh. Always doing off-the-wall things.

Still, why were he, Dosu, Sasuke and Shikamaru here at all when Tsunade had everyone she needed to formulate a battle plan? It made sense to include Shikamaru, considering he was a brilliant strategist, but he himself was only good for combat, not formalizing strategies. Dosu as least was undrstandable, since Tsunade needed to keep him in view at all times to prevent any security breach. Better to keep the former Oto-nin close than risk him overhearing on their plans and possibly spreading the news to anyone in earshot.

Sasuke was another matter all together. Despite the fact that Naruto had wordlessly agreed that Kakashi had taken him on as a student, there was something unsettling about Sasuke nowadays, but the scarred Chuunin couldn't tell for the life of him what it was. Maybe paranoia was getting the better of him, rattling his nerves after so much training and getting little rest.

Despite himself, however, Naruto also started contemplating how to initiate a counter-attack against Iwagakure's mounting forces, but drew up several blanks every time he brought back the all too crucial fact that Iwa's numbers were too large and overwhelming. Not only did they have more shinobi, they had hired bandits, Nukenins, and various rogues, renegades, and cutthroats at their disposal as cannon fodder. Even if Sunagakure gave them everyone of their (surviving) shinobi battle ready for the attack, they were up against numbers twice that of Konoha and Suna combined.

It was considered just moments ago that Jiraiya and/or Tsunade summon their animal partners to destroy at least a sizable chunk of Iwa's soldiers, but both adamantly refused, saying first and foremost that they were never going to leave their partners for the slaughter. While everyone was confident Gama Bunta and Katsuyuu were more than capable of destroying a good portion of the enemy numbers, they would've inevitably been killed, which they would not do.

That, and the Boss Summons had already expressed their refusal to taking part in a large-scale war. Their kind had already paid a steep price for their mistakes in the past. This was their conflict, not the Summons.

Bringing his sights back to Tsunade, Naruto was reminded yet again how old she truly was, hidden behind that youthful mask. She not only had the obligations as village leader to deal with, confined in her own tower to write and sign bills and documents in their worst state in the last fifteen years. It seemed like her shoulders carried a mountain of burden around with her-

Wait. What just passed between his thoughts? A mountain of burden...

Naruto's eyes widened, struck with a sudden epiphany. It sounded completely crazy, ludicrous even, but it might just work.

Striding over to the map table and pushing past Ibiki to check along the geography of the the Iwa forces travel routes.

"Stand aside, Uzumaki." Hiashi demanded coldly. "We're in the middle of something important, so why don't you go outside to play with the rest of the children?"

Sparing a hard, but brief glare of anger at the Hyuuga for patronizing him, Naruto went back to the map and found the spot he was looking for, an open expanse of land clear or any vegetation what-so-ever, barren like a rocky desert at the edge of the north-west corner of the Fire Country, just outside Kusagakure and Takigakure. "This is where we can attack them", Naruto said excitedly. "There's also a stretch of mountains running parallel to the valley for another twenty mile distance. We can use them to decimate the Iwa army."

"What are you talking about?" Ibiki asked behind him. Taking a quick look around, Naruto also saw he had the attention of everyone else in the room.

He grinned, so wide his eyes were forced shut by his cheeks. "We send out a force of maybe one hundred shinobi to attack Iwa's forces, and keep the rest of Konoha's shinobi and any Suna-nins sent to defend the village once the second half come marching toward our gates. As with the main force, the one hundred shinobi we send will only need to delay them long enough for me and Jiraiya to do the coup de grace."

"And what, pray tell, might that be?" Hiashi demanded scathingly.

Naruto only smirked at the Hyuuga's question, like the fox that cornered the rabbit after a fun chase. "I'm saying Ero-sennin and I take one of the mountains and teleport it ontop of their army, just after all one hundred of our shinobi teleport themselves to safety. We kill them all with one well-placed attack they have no hope of countering or defending against."

There was a strange silence that followed, leaving everyone's scrutiny on the blond Chuunin like he either just turned insane or had a revelation. Dosu spoke up from the back. "So let me get this straight. We send a hundred ninja to charge head-on against Iwagakure's main contengent of forces, numbering in the thousands, and we would have to hold them off just long enough until you and the old man over there take a mountain, teleport it, and drop it onto the Iwa forces after the hundred or so shinobi --or what's left of them-- teleport back into Konoha, just like that?"

Naruto thought about for a few seconds and nodded, "Yep, that's pretty much it."

Incredulously, Dosu held up his gauntlet hand, splaying out his fingers and curling them back to his palm as he counted down. "Certainty of death; small chance of success; overwhelming numbers; and a downright ridiculous plan...", But Dosu shook his head, defeated, a wry grin tugging at his mouth.

"What are we waiting for?"

To be continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes-**

Alright, I'll confess; Naruto's Byakuu Rai and Shunpo technique ARE in fact the same as what the Shinigami use in the manga series BLEACH. Can you blame me? I thought it was badass!!

Now, as from what I've read in the reviews y'all have left for my fanfic, I do apologize for such a late update, but I've been juggling this chapter and several OTHER fanfics I have planned to upload.

That, and I've been damn busy with work. And not the kind where you sit in a building; it's the kind where you sweat and pant and praise God Almighty for that glass of water you take for granted while trudging long and hard under the sun with little shade for cover. Goddamn that was a mouthful!

As I'm sure you're aware in this chapter (or not, whichever), the reason I've been kind of rushing events together was so that I could have the Coup de Grace all neatly packed into one single chapter. And by the Coup de Grace, I do mean the battle between Konoha and Iwa.

Jutsus used in chapter:

_Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Doppelganger/Clone)- _A Genin-level technique which the user casts illusionary copies of him/herself to act as decoys and distractions during combat or otherwise. The copies hold no substance since their illusions, and are easily dispersed by slight contact. With the exception of very few, any and every shinobi between the minor and major Ninja Nations and villages are able to use this technique since it requires little chakra, though it does require full concentration.

_Bunshin Bakuha (Exploding Doppelganger)_- A technique of having one's shadow clones concentrate all their available energy into their center and having it explode like a bomb. A high-leveled technique which requires the presence of a shadow clone.

_Doton: Doro Bunshin no Jutsu (Earth Form: Mud Doppelganger/Clone Technique)-_ A Chuunin-level technique of substituting one's self with a body double made of mud, which take the exact physical traits and appearance as the user him/herself, to avoid an attack, giving the impression of a successful blow to one's opponent, leaving them distracted to either attack or escape. Although it requires more skill to initiate and use extensively, it requires no more chakra or handseals than _Kawarimi no Jutsu._

_Doton:_ _Yomi Numa no Justu (Earth Form: Art of the Hell Swamp)-_Jiraiya's technique; he summons a swamp much the same as how he summons his toads, or rather changes the soil itself into muddy tar with his chakra. Used primarily for bogging down large opponents/targets, sinking large structures, or even immobilizing great numbers. Depending on the quantity of chakra used in the technique, one can create a bog of tar as large as a town or as small as a pool.

_Jyuuken (Gentle Fist)-_A form of hand-to-hand combat used exclusively in the Hyuuga clan of Konoha. Users of this technique utilize their chakra energy to target the chakra coils and chakra nodes to halt the flow of their opponent's energy, or attack internal organs. Use of this technique requires the Hyuuga clan's Doijutsu, the Byakugan, in order to see where they must strike with their chakra-charged attacks.

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Doppelganger/Clone)-_A Jounin-level technique; user creates a solid double of him/herself by using their chakra to shape the body and gives the look-alike construct their own free will. Each Doppelganger is able to even act either independently or follow mental commands given to them by their mind-link with the main body. Drawback is that the technique requires one to either split his chakra evenly between himself and all the Doppelgangers he/she creates, but with every Doppelganger destroyed, the main body receives knowledge gained by the construct. Each single clone can do any Jutsu the main body can, given the amount of chakra used to conjure it.

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire form: Art of the Grand Fireball)_-A Chuunin-level Ninjutsu which the user draws in a deep breath and blasts it out into a giant ball of fire, able to scorch earth and cause massive explosions on impact. Technique demands alot of chakra and control, otherwise the effect would be week and would harm the user if done incorrectly. Used by many Konoha shinobi, though Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha use them the most, since it WAS the Uchiha Clan's prized fire technique.

_Kanashibari no Jutsu (Art of Paralysis)-_ A D-rank technique. User projects a kind of "chakra wavelength" that leaves the target temporarily petrified, usually by means of eye contact or by literally using the chakra to "stun" the target. While the effects wear off in a matter between minutes or seconds (depending on the will-power and strength of the target subjected to this technique) which allows the user precious seconds to attack or retreat. It's range varies, and can effect multiple targets as well.

_Kawarimi no Jutsu (Art of Substitution)-_A Genin-level Ninjutsu. User simply uses an item or medium to switch places with, often when escaping being attacked at the last moment. Substitutions can be used with logs, rocks, packs, even Dopplegangers or anything else the user him/herself can pick up. Application ranges from escape to counter-attacks. Nearly every accomplished shinobi can perform this technique, as it requires little chakra or concentration.

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)-_A C-rank technique where one can bring forth an animal partner to aid them in battle, escape, espionage, etc. Technique requires one signing a contract on a summoning scroll in order to conjure an animal summon. Jutsu requires also an enormous amount of chakra to summon any significantly powerful, large, or mature summoning beast.

_Kuchiyose: Fubaku Shunshin no Jutsu (Summoning: Art of Seal-Binding Teleportation)-_One of Naruto's original techniques. Using his chakra to form a ring of sealing runes, the caster can transport anything within the circle of seals to any location, given the user knows the precise location. In Naruto's case, he uses his seal-imbued kunais as guideposts or points of correspondence for teleporting accurately.

_Kyoumeisen (Vibrating Sound-drill)_- Dosu Kinuta's standard technique. Using the gauntlet on his arm, Dosu utilizes any and all vibrations from sound and focuses the sound waves into ultrasonic pulses to attack his opponent. By controlling, compressing, and directing the vibrations with his chakra, he can either hit the inner-ear and destroy the target's balance and/or killing them by inter-cranial bleeding, or shatter solid matter like trees and living tissue.

_Ninpo: Otomori no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Sound Lance Technique)-_ One of Dosu's original techniques; by condensing the vibrations with his chakra in either the air around him or by projecting them from his voice, Dosu can literally blast an invisible missile of sound that can sheer clean through flesh and stone alike.

_Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique)-_ Naruto's original technique; a variation of Henge where he transformes into a vuluptious female version of himself, often to either provide a distraction or for his own amusement. Only Naurto and Konohamaru use this technique.

_Rasengan (Spiral-sphere)-_ An A-class technique where one gathers chakra to their hand, spins the chakra, then compresses the energy into a sphere of swirling blue energy no larger than a fist, but with the power of a hurricane. Requires a massive amount of chakra to maintain and create, but requires no hand-seals. One of the Yondaime's original techniques.

_Shikoku Fuuin (Finger-engraving Seal)-_ A technique used primarily to engrave messages onto objects using chakra at the fingertip. Naruto uses this technique to execute most of his Fuuinjutsus by literally "scribbling" the seal formulae in the air itself.

_Shunpo no Jutsu (Art of the Flash Step)-_ One of Naruto's original Ninjutsus; actually a more controllable version of Shunshin no Jutsu, able to be used in motion and can stop at any time even between jumps if the user needs to halt before reaching the specified destination. Limited to only the user's foreknowledge of destinations, terrain, and range of vision to see the point of correspondence for his teleportation.

Translations:

Doro Bunshins- Mud Doppelgangers

Ero-Sennin- Pervert Sage (Jiraiya's nickname)

Godaime- Fifth Lord

Goikenban- Advisory Council, the leading authority figures involved in the running the village, which included the Sandaime, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu.

Gogyo Fuuin- Five-element Seal-release

Hakke no Fuuin Shiki- Eight Trigrams Seal Form (or lit. Seal of Eight Divinations) The seal holding Kyuubi within Naruto and merging the demon's chakra with its vessel.

Henge- Transform

Hentai-jij- Pervert old man

Hokage- Fire Shadow

Kekkei genkai- Bloodline limit

Kusanagi- Grasscutter (Orochimaru's katana)

Kyuubi no Kitsune- Fox of Ninetails

Konohagakure no Sato - Village of Hidden Leaf

Jinchuuriki- Tailed Beast-human Sacrifice/Demon Vessel

Nukenin- _lit._ Missing-nin/Rogue ninja

Ningu- Ninja tools/weapons

Oto- Sound

Samehada- Sharkskin (Kisame's giant sword)

Sennin- Hermit/Sage/Wizard

Sharingan- Windmill-eye

Shikoku Fuuin- Finger-engraving Seal

Shodaime- First Lord

Tokibetsu Jounin- lit. Special High-ninja, primarily bodyguards and such that work directly under the Hokage's authority.

Tomoe- a comma design


End file.
